Jem has the wind in his sails

Jem has always been a keen sportsman. At school and in sixth form college rugby was his main sport and windsurfing was just for fun, but sport was such a huge part of his life that it really influenced his university choice. Hence, in 1990, he decided to take on a degree course in Sports Studies at Northumbria, Newcastle Polytechnic as it was then. “I really wanted to go to a good university to do sports science”, explained Jem, “and I also wanted a whole new culture with some good rugby, both at the poly and at a local club, like Gosforth. Therefore Northumbria ticked these boxes.”

Jem really enjoyed his course at Northumbria. As well as playing plenty of rugby the social life was superb, and he also appreciated all the doors the course opened to him. “I was definitely one of the more exuberant and gregarious people on Sport Studies, and relished all the opportunities that Newcastle gave me.”

On graduation in 1993 Jem had secured a place on a PGCE in Physical Education at Birmingham, due to begin in September the following year, and he took this opportune break as a reason to go travelling. He headed off to the windsurfing mecca of Western Australia for their summer months (November to March), which reignited his passion for the sport. Jem was already qualified as a basic windsurfing instructor so applied for work teaching the sport during the summer before his PGCE. He worked for Sovereign Sailing until September 1994, and this company became Sunworld sailing and then Neilson, with whom Jem did many seasons.

Jem returned to the UK to study his PGCE in September 1994, and on completion he went back to work as a windsurfing instructor, this time in Turkey. “Now I was hooked on teaching windsurfing”, Jem enthused, adding: “I upgraded all my windsurfing qualifications and my enthusiasm to both teach and improve my personal sailing knew no bounds.” Jem worked all round Europe teaching the sport, and in 1998 was offered a more senior position in the Dominican Republic. He finished his last season with Neilson in Vassiliki, Greece, in 2000 as a manager, where he fulfilled his final aim within the company.

This is when Jem decided that he wanted to go out on his own as a coach. “In 2001 I started do 1-to-1 coaching down on the south coast in West Wittering, West Sussex, and I also secured a job as a tester for a well-known windsurfing magazine called BOARDS.” Both of these jobs gave Jem the much needed publicity and exposure to start running his now world-wide specialised coaching clinics. “I started with just one in 2002 and this went up to three in 2003, five in 2004, then 10 in 2007. These days I run 12 - 13 clinics a year, and in the industry I am now known as a 'technique guru’. Jem attributes much of his rapid success to working very hard, retaining many clients and gaining very positive feedback and word of mouth promotion.

As his brand awareness and image increased, more traffic was driven to his website, and people started reading his technique articles in BOARDS and buying his technique videos. “I have moved from “Jem who?” to being recognised by windsurfers the world over. People know who I am, and more importantly, what I do”, Jem told us. This is certainly endorsed by the fact that he has sold over 10,000 copies of his technique DVD ‘Beginner to Winner’.

Jem’s success wasn’t all plain sailing though. It was very tough in the beginning, and if it hadn’t been for people’s word of mouth endorsement he wouldn’t be celebrating his current success to anything like the same degree. In 2007 Jem left his job as a tester for BOARDS magazine to be sponsored by RRD Boards and Ezzy Sails, a move to which he credits a lot of his success. Says Jem: “They have really promoted me and taken my brand image to another level. I also work extensively for them on a purely promotional level, and of course in the crucial area of research and development of new and existing boards and sails.” It’s a mutually beneficial relationship that appears to be working well for all involved.

Jem’s favourite part of his job is meeting new people and helping them unlock their true windsurfing potential. “It’s seeing the look on their faces when they nail a new move”, Jem tells me. But it’s not all fun - there are some tough challenges, and every week poses a new challenge as Jem starts from scratch with a new pupil in his tutorials. “It will always be that way when you are looking to get people to be the best they can be.”

Jem is renowned for getting his pupils to complete the ‘forward loop’, a tough move that many windsurfers can only aspire to, so it’s easy to see why he’s gained the reputation he has in the industry. Jem is truly thankful for the opportunities he’s been presented with career wise, and appreciates the help the he’s received from everyone, including lecturers from his time at Northumbria.  

I asked Jem what the future held for him and he assured me it’s more of the same. Along with his clinic tour of coaching weeks around the globe he’s already made two successful technique DVDs - ‘Beginner to Winner’ and ‘Winner to Wavesailor’ - and there are more on the way. You can find out more about the DVDs and clinics at www.jemhall.com,  and everything you need to know about the equipment Jem uses and recommends can be found at www.seaspritesports.com. If you want to read how to improve your windsurfing technique you can follow his increasingly popular monthly articles in BOARDS magazine, catch up on previous instalments online at boards.mpora.com/how-to  and www.boardseekermag.com/technique/technique.html, or follow his exploits on Twitter and Facebook.