Going on a Jem Hall clinic comes with a warning, or at least that’s been my impression. I expected to see everyone being frogmarched to the beach or dropping to the floor as he booms out “give me ten” for each wrongly placed hand on the boom. Thankfully his bark is worse than his bite, truth is Jem is a baby in Shrek’s clothing rather than an ogre.
Most of Jem’s clients were returners from previous trips, which in its self say’s plenty, but I was keen to see how the newbie’s would react to being called “bender” for the first time. To be fair he doesn’t go for the jugular right from the off, but gets the banter going with his regulars before unleashing one of his many mantras on the newcomers.
“if you do what you’ve always done, you’ll get what you’ve always got” has to be his favourite and as much as I changed the words in the evening banter, he’s right, the only route to improvement is change. I wasn’t immune to his criticisms and while the resulting tips felt unnatural at first, bigger foot straps and longer lines did improve my wave riding.
Mixing holiday and instruction is a great way to get the most out of your sailing trips, but that brings me to one of the more frequently asked questions in my inbox, who is the best instructor. To be honest there isn’t a definitive answer, sure the windsurfing message is the same but the delivery comes down to style, both on and off the water.
I’ve now been away with just about every UK guru instructor and if I’m honest Jem’s was low on my priority list. The boot camp image I had come from those looking on rather than the clients themselves, having now experienced it for myself there’s a definite change in my list.
Jem isn’t the partygoer, so don’t expect late nights but with his focus is on improvement you’ll probably be too tired to go out anyway. The trip for me was perfectly timed, with an operation booked for the 21st I wanted to maximise my sailing which the combo of Jem and Jeri fitted the bill ideally.
Despite indulging myself at the many good restaurants and sundowners at Club Ventos I’ve returned home lighter than I left, which to be honest is a first, but a welcome one. So would I join Jem again, without a doubt, the question should be, would he invite me, after all the banter I’m not so sure :)
