Marvellous Marsa In March

Good morning, I sincerely hope we are all loving the joys of spring. People always say to me "will you always live mainly in England?" and I say a resounding yes. I love to have a base where I can see my family and friends and I love many factors about living in Southsea; such as the changing of the seasons, and in some sort of mascohistic way the will it won't it frustration of just when the wind and / or waves will appear and let us enjoy them to the max, but then I think all windies have to love this in some way or they will quit our great sport. I am reflecting on this after getting back from Marvellous Marsa in late March and have really enjoyed spending about 6 weeks at home hammering the office work, going ape in the gym and getting so excited every time I can get out for a sail, and of course seeing family and friends and enjoying the odd refreshment or 2 .. steady now. The beauty of seasons and the changing of the temps can be crazy this time of year, a few Sundays back I was getting 'Ice Cream (freezing hands)' whilst out on my Fire move and 6.5 cheetah and then 5 days later it was like summer .. 3.2 suit, no boots and totally cozy. Now the salesman in me would say you can remove some of the randomness and frustration of our Northern European wind cycles by booking on an overseas coaching holiday right now, and this is strongly advised as yes, you guessed what I would say next, they are selling out fast!! This newsletter is to give you some news from Marvellous Marsa and to let you know I am off to Magical Moulay next, plus I will round up any other interesting news. CLINIC NEWS: PRASONISI, RHODES - BOOK NOW, Wind and Warmth await you: I have the last few places available in Perfect Prasonisi, SOLD OUT NOW Rhodes has many benefits: Reliable winds Flat water for fundamentals Wave beach for onshore action Warm water Warm air and wind temps Easy flight with relatively short and easy transfer Long sailing day Very well equipped and friendly windsurf centre Good for all; singles, couples and groups DAMN - it has to be good as this venue has my equal highest return rate of my lovely ripping windsurfers : ) Perfect Punta San Carlos in Beautiful Baja I will let the fab new video from Clive 'El Toro' Boden give you an idea of the joy that awaits here. 4 places left on my second coaching week there from August 17 to 24. Magnificent Mauritius This is now booking steadily and offers a fantastic hotel in a stunning location with world class sailing over a variety of water states from flat water, to bump n jump, to small waves and then the piece de resistance of pure down the line joy on the outer reef at Manawa. The Mauritius coaching holiday is great for working on a range of skills from gybes to jumps, to rides and tricks. It is also fab for bringing non sailing partners, or water babies who wish to learn or improve in windsurfing, kiting (gulp) or SUPing. It is that time of year where a lot of the competitions are taking place both nationally and internationally. The PWA (professional windsurfers association) have already kicked off with their freestyle event in Austria and they got wind and a result. If you have some available screen time it can be quite interesting to watch the live feed over on the PWA site, hear the commentary and watch the live ticker of updated results, they have some a long way in this area and are to be strongly applauded. Playing now is the PWA slalom in Korea and as the first slalom event of the year I will be definitely flying the flag for my RRD team mates, Antoine Albeau and Julien Quentel (the french flyers), the huge character of Finian Maynard and our new Israel Importer for RRD, Arnon 'hands like dinner plates' Dagan. If you fancy a bit more low key racing and to support a fantastic event then look no further than this years National Watersports Festival (NWF) held at Hayling Island on August 30 - Sept 1. This event is organised by the tireless and hugely inspirational Allan Cross and sees people come together from all over the UK, and Europe too, to race, have fun, socialise and support the joy that is watersports. Next up for GB and Ireland is the wave comps, courtesy of the BWA (British Wavesailing Assoc.) kicking off in Rhosneigr on 17-19 May and then they race across to Brandon Bay, Ireland for the next event. Competition is for all levels from first timers, to ladies to juniors, to amateurs to masters and finally to pros, get involved. Marvellous Marsa, way back in March, was fantastic and this resort grows on both my clients and I every year. The sailing area is fantastic with it's variety of water states and huge open spaces, the centre and the hotel have a very chilled vibe and I would say that the staff in centre are amongst the best in the world so a huge thanks to Ivan, Snezha, Mahmoud and Abdel Munsef. My crew of rippers on both weeks were on fine form and worked incredibly hard to improve, and drink all the rum on party nights, and they all bonded so well and the camaraderie was huge as clients from all over Europe came together to take their sailing to a new level. However, they did not embrace my no harness challenge, (pics on Facebook) with the exception of Felix Koster who took it head on by completing 10 reaches with no harness with tacks, 360 attempts and gybes interspersed. He did this as a bit of a photo shoot fun but it still inspired me to go and have some of this for myself and I nailed 12 reaches with body drags, 360s and duck gybes thrown in for good measure, using the Firemove made it a whole lot easier of course. So this year please aim to do at least 2 reaches without a harness on and planing in the straps and then build from that, it is great for your technique and your fitness, feels amazing and is a real eye opener!! Right then I better get my toys and speedos together as my Moulay, Morocco wave camps await. I am really looking forward to bonding even more with my RRD wave cult quads and Ezzy Elites as I can honestly honestly say they (and my new fitness regime) have really allowed me to improve and develop all aspects of my sailing. Let the carnage begin as my wave rippers get their first rides, bash some lips, jump higher and I'm sure their will be a few banging out there first forwards : ) Carpe Diem - 'If you always do what you have always done, then you will always get what you have always got' Tony Robbins, worlds leading personnel development coach. Big love to you all, Enjoy, Jem X Ps I am So so over the moon to get the inside cover contents pic in the May Edition of Windsurf Magazine (UK), big thanks to Dave White for his fab night shot taken in Big Bay, Cape Town, and to my sponsors RRD and Ezzy. PPS Thanks to Karel Tyc for these fab pics and to Andy 'Tominator' Tomlinson at Crucial Projects for his recent design work : ) MORE News and Updates on my Twitter page And of course I am on facebook for great pics, news and banter and I now have a new JemHallCoachfacebook page which will be getting more and more interactive in the future, and yes my new website is very delayed but it is coming - too busy sailing, selling, coaching and training : )