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 : )

Cape Town goes off

Howzit all, I am lucky enough to be currently in the last week of a 2 month training, testing and time out trip to Cape Town, South Africa so I will be reflecting on this throughout, as well as highlighting any current news on clinics and action coming up. The sharks have not got me yet but I have had some great crashes and had an opportunity to break out my arm bands during numerous swims to find my kit, paddle, Sup etc. So I hear it has been pretty cold throughout Europe but fear not spring is on its way so I impore you to begin visualising and getting fit/ter in readiness for your next bout of ocean realignment. CLINIC NEWS: Perfect Prasonisi, Reliable Rhodes which over 10 years and around 40 clinics has averaged 4 - 5 days a week of planing conditions and is now booking up steadily. New for 2013, in Rhodes, is my Female Focussed clinic, called Jem's Jewels, where I will be assisted by a female co - coach, Rachel Tucker and their will be a set amount of places for ladies only, so as to ensure a great learning environment and to give you the opportunity to share rooms and keep your costs down. We will be providing a supportive, inspiring and focussed environment where ladies will have the opportunity to not only enjoy a great holiday but also seriously improve their windsurfing. This clinic is filling nicely and will be a fantastic experience : ) The Mecca of Moulay, Morocco on May 9th and 16th is currently FULL. Therefore, if you are after a wave coaching holiday and camp then please consider Perfect Punta San Carlos in Baja, Mexico. The 1st week is now sold out and so by popular demand I have opened up a second week of coaching from August 17th-24th. Email me for more details on these clinics and to discuss your booking. Next up for me I am kicking off my 2013 coaching season with my regular trip to Marsa Alam, Egypt for 2 weeks of peformance boosting. I will be taking the New Ezzy Legacy and Tiger out with to test and tune so I will feedback on these after the trip. The 2xs posse have already posted a review on the Legacy which is billed as 'A high performance wave and freeride collection that delivers awesome performance for more budget-minded customers.' If you fancy some more Ezzy inspiration then please check out Kevin Pritchards fine movie offering. My mission to South Africa started well with Nick Coleman and his lovely posse hosting a fantastic New Years Eve Braii (BBQ) so a big thanks to all of them. Upon reflection Cape Town has been, in a word, amazing. January was windy for so many days in a row that I could not even keep track. These days were gratefully received as we were testing, shooting and filming new and existing products from RRD and Ezzy and it was great to work alongside chief RRD sail designer, John Skye and the force that is Dave White, whom I am much indebted too for so many of these fine pics in this newsletter. The merry RRD crew travelled up and down from the picturesque waves of Platboom at Cape Point to the flat waters of Langabaan in order to get the job done. Skye boy was giving me my regular bottom kicking, coaching, that I am happy to receive from him and about time as he is very much in debt to me. Whitey was in his element as he gave us both alot of abuse and banter throughout, whilst coming to terms with the challenging conditions on offer which I lovingly call Port Tack Punishment. Not that I mind the wind from the left but the waves are pretty challenging (closing out inside sand bars as an example) and the wind is damn gusty, that said it is awesome sailing and I love it here. The variety of sailing is just immense! You can catch up on more pics from this trip on the mighty Whites site or on my Facebook page On arrival in Cape Town I was about the most unfit I have been in a long time, 3 weeks of chest infection will do that to a big baldy like me. Add to this I tweaked my ankle on the 2nd day and this trip has been all about getting back in the game, so with this in mind I have been hitting the gym hard, taking on board coaching tips/abuse from people and keeping a sailing log where I reflect on sessions and benefit from a bit of the old self coaching. These actions have all proved very beneficial and I now look forward to my next sessions with excitement and definitely with less of the fear that I had earlier in the trip! And I am inspired to keep upping the fitness too as it really helps my sailing and behaviour breeds behaviour. February saw the wind die down a bit and an increase in the wind and waves hunting game that you have to play out here. This is when you rely on good forecasting, previous experience, texting other people on the road and a bit of luck too. After a windless few hours at one wave beach I decided to head to Langabaan (inland sea sailing area) for some flat water sailing and so I whipped out the New Firestorm V2 120 from RRD and just loved hammering up and down super stacked on my 6.5 Cheetah, a change was most definitely as good as a break. The last couple of weeks have allowed me to do a very tardy newsletter, get this blog up online and answer a lot of emails and, of course, entice many of you to join me on a coaching holiday in 2013. The Cape Doctor joined me for a few more last sessions so I went about my very own Hall's homework with passion, focus and commitment. And i m now in transit in the Uk before I head to Marsa Alam, Egypt. After Egypt I will be spending a good amount of time back in the UK and will be hunting some good old home sailing and SUPing and then in May it is off to Morocco. Early June sees my first trip to Sweden beckon to visit the top crew of people at Surfers Paradise for a free tips and demo weekend. Thanks for reading and I wish you good sailing and a fantastic spring. Focus, believe and Enjoy, Jem X PS It was also a great experience to meet Antoine Albeau in the flesh and what a professional and top man he is. Soooo fast on his X fires, all over it in the waves and ripping it up on his SUPs too. His passion to get in the water every day was very infectious.