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.

Off to Jeri and Autumn travels

Bom dia all,

I am furiously packing for my next clinic which is off to Jeri, Brazil for my annual sojourn to warm water, wind and waves (watch Whiteys Video from last year) with my merry bunch of rippers.  This newsletter is to give you a little nudge to book up for a clinic for next year, round up some news and wish you a good winter for sailing. 

Clinic News:

Marvelous Marsa Alam, Egypt is now receiving quite a few bookings so please book up before we sell out and come on down to take a break from Winter and get tuned up for your 2013 season on March 13th and 20th.

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 taking bookings. New for 2013, in Rhodes, is my ladies clinic, called Jem's Jewels, where I will be assisted by a female co - coach, Rachel Tucker and 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.


The Mecca of Moulay, Morocco on May 9th and 16th is already taking a lot of bookings and we are ready to give you a fab holiday and an awesome waterperson (WP) / wavesailing experience, bookings are with Oceansource.net

Email me for more details on these clinics and to discuss your booking.


Now back in October we were very proud to announce that Antoine Albeau has given RRD it's first world title by winning the PWA slalom title for 2012 on his RRD X Fire slalom machines. Well the man knows no bounds and he has now smashed the speed record and gone over 50 Knots, this is an amazing feat! The previous link takes you to the fab new website for Windsurf magazine and I have an Interview coming out in the Jan/Feb issue out on Dec 23rd or so.

If we are talking magazines then Boards Mag currently has their huge winter annual wave issue which has loads of top articles, education and inspiration so treat yourself to a copy or subscribe.

After my Ireland wave clinic I had a dutch group join me in Ireland and they were a top bunch and had a right old time out in Brandon Bay and very much enjoyed being Jemetically Modified, check out their exploits here. They even filmed me doing a learn to SUP presentation as I am always looking to develop my clients waterperson skills. 

After Ireland it was next stop to West Wales, via the glorious Irish and hilly Welsh roads, for the BoardWise Bonfire Aberdovey demo where we scored wind and lots of happy windies loving the toys and it goes without saying that the FireMove was loving the conditions, whilst being powered up the super stable and speedy Ezzy Cheetahs. You can check out Whiteys blog where he gives you an updated low down on this glorious board and highlights the fab test that Boards have given it.

Thanks for reading and I look forward to seeing or hearing from you soon and also hope we can get some ocean realignment together.

Enjoy yourself, it's later than you think.

Carpe Diem,

Jem
X

Rhodes action and awesome autumn

Hi,

Well this Autumn is shaping up rather nicely with all the wind and waves on offer and lets hope it stays this way, and temperate too, for as long as possible. This newsletter is to give you a heads up on what's going on, my latest toys and which clinics are booking and selling fast. Thanks in advance for taking the time to read it : )

Rhodes reflection:
I am just back from my from 10th Anniversary of coaching clinics in Rhodes and off to Brandon Bay, Ireland next week for my WaterPerson (WP) clinics there. Prasonisi gave us a few days of very light winds until the hairdryer came back on and gave us a fine send off, hats off to the crew for being focussed, fun and most of all relaxed about the delay in the wind, as we all know that there are no guarantees in life and even in Rhodes the wind needs a breather sometimes.

Looping it up on the NEW RRD wave cult quad 92

Autumn action:
Since my return it has been great to get some autumn action in and enjoy conditions around my local breaks, and also on a road trip down to Camber Sands. Their is something about the colder weather, the rain and changeable conditions that seems to excite and inspire me and yes there is no place like home : )


Toys, toys, toys - we love em:
During my ocean realignment on my home turf I have ahd the opportunity to really get to know my new toys and I must say I am loving my new Ezzy Panther Elites and the New RRD Wave Cult Quads.

The 4 battened Elites are lighter, easier power and more neutral for rides, gybes and style and really allow you to throttle the power on or off, yet they are still strong and with a huge wind range and a massive top end.

Now that I have had some quality testing time on my New Cult Quads, and in a range of conditions, I am happy to say that I have them dialled in and am really appreciating their virtues. It is also worth noting that not only am I enjoying them but so too are the people I lend them to in order to test them and provide me with valuable insight, same goes for the Elites. The feedback thus far on the RRD Cult Quads is that they are earlier to plane, have more wind range and a livelier / faster ride. Due to the narrower tails and increased tail rocker, with more vee, they are looser and now with more drive too. Yesterday saw my onshore wave riding performance  definitely go up a notch - I LOVE THEM! Get in touch if you want to discuss or test either of the above.

Clinic News:

Marvelous Marsa Alam, Egypt is now open for bookings so come on down to take a break from Winter and get tuned up for your 2013 season on March 13th and 20th. The early booking offer has now been extended to October 31st.

Perfect Prasonisi, Reliable Rhodes which over 10 years and around 40 clinics has averaged 4 - 5 days a week of planing conditions and has just commenced taking bookings and we also have an early booking offer on this too - till October 31st. New for 2013, in Rhodes, is my ladies clinic, called Jem's Jewels, where I will be assisted by a female co - coach and 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.

The Mecca of Moulay, Morocco on May 9th and 16th is already taking a lot of bookings and we are ready to give you a fab holiday and an awesome waterperson (WP) / wavesailing experience, bookings are with Oceansource.net

Email me for more details on these clinics and to discuss your booking.


I look forward to hearing from you or indeed seeing you on the water either on the UK's fair shores or on a clinic in the very near future.


Live your life with passion and as my good friend Tony Tatts just said, 'You rarely regret your experiences but you do regret what you did not do.' Take action and always look to be the pilot and not the passenger.


Rip, Appreciate, Taste and Enjoy,

Jem
XX

Ps please page down and check out the pics of my Rhodes rippers and there top demonstrations of sound technique. A special mention has to go to my Cypriot friend, Melios, who has been windsurfing for only 4 months, and with Beginner to Winner to guide him plus his focus, passion and energy he was able to pull off his first carve gybes on the clinic. The crew also helped him and he worked very very hard in the light winds on his tacks, clew first sailing and gybe fundamentals .... and when the wind came he stepped it up another gear - huge respect.


He and his fellow Rhodes rippers are now ready to move there sailing forward as they all improved in several areas:
They are better self coaches
Tuning
Posing in front of the camera - unleash a still camera and a windsurfers competency often doubles : )
Performing skill specific drills
Target setting
Work rate
Focus
Having fun by remembering the positives and knowing when less is more, ie. not oversailing

Great carve entrance by James Mellor

 

James M and Andy Ruby loving it

Marian Weller showing perfect stance : )

Piers T refining his first duck gybes!

Jimi M carving it up on the beloved RRD FireMove

Halvor the ripping Norwegian Ezzy Importer about to duck it up

Anders B M showing perfect carve technique on the Ezzy Elite

Loving Punta San Carlos

Great to see the Olympics going off back home and right now I am out on Perfect Punta San Carlos, Baja, Mexico on my down the line deep joy wavesailing clinic. The crew are on fine form and improving every day. Had a fab MTB ride this am and we are taking in surfing and SUPing before the wind kicks in for the afternoon ...  all finished up with awesome food and lots of liquid refreshment

You just don't know until you go - check some Pics out 

Loving my new Ezzy Elites of 4 battened joy too.

Lastly, if you fancy jumping on a coaching clinic and enjoying a fab holiday whilst improving amongst like minded people then join me in Rhodes this September or Jeri, Brazil in November. 

H20 demo, RRD toys and Brazil Baby

Hey all,

I'm now back from the RRD Conference in Cyprus and was amped for a sail tomorrow on Friday and boy did i get it - FULL POWER 3.5 and great fun. I as at Poole  over the weekend too, for the H20 sports demo, good to see lots of you lovely people there, who came down for a chat and checked out the RRD / Ezzy goodness. We got wind and sun on the Saturday, awesome  : )

If you wish to see a sneak preview of what is all goodness and light from RRD then check out a video where I present the New and existing RRD toys . Whilst we are talking RRD the very man Roberto highlights the key features of the highly acclaimed Firemoves, which are currently getting rave reviews.

BRIEF CLINIC NEWS:


If you fancy wind, warmth & good times join me for some top class coaching to give your gybes, stunts, stance and freestyle a boost in Prasonisi, Rhodes this June. Few spaces available on the weeks of June 13, 20 and 27th. More details on Rhodes in June and September.


Brazil price and logistics are being rijigged now due to a flight change and it will now be Jeri only to bring the costs down. The twin centre option from last year added an additional transfer and all the fun of the beach buggy trip but increases the trip by a day and adds further costs, albeit huge fun and very much enjoyed by one and all in 2011 : )  Flying out on Nov 27th and back on Dec 8th.

When I get the chance I will give you a rundown on the action from Marvelous Moulay. In the meantime, enjoy the wind and yourself - 'it's later than you think.'


Carpe Diem,

Jem
X


Ps thanks to Dave White for filming and editing the movies and for his glorious pics, with a few ones of the, soon to be released, New Wave Cult Quads sneaking in there.


You might have noticed me on the RRD sail in the mast mount pic, fear not I'm still Ezzy through and through but got to sail and test some other brands and also what our valued retailers will be selling. Whitey will be waxing lyrical about the RRD sails and you can catch him too at the H20 Poole demo this weekend : )