These are the conclusions I’ve reached after 20 years of running clinics. Everyone wants to become a better windsurfer. Everyone wants to have a good time doing it. On a PH clinic we never lose sight of the fact that this is your holiday.  

One to One Coaching
People learn in different ways. Some for example like to intellectualise the moves, get the mechanics sorted out in their head and on the simulator before attacking it in stages. Others just like to look and learn – watch a demonstration and then try to copy it – ‘mirror’ learning as it’s called. Some are obsessive about getting it right and want to be pushed all the way. Others prefer to stay within their comfort zone and just ease gently up the ladder.
What this means is that although we laugh, play and sail as a group, as much as I can I try to keep the coaching one to one, because everyone is different!
So how does it work?
 
Therapy
On the first evening we have a personal chat. You divulge your personal problems and we make up a ‘wish list’ – e.g. small board tack, light wind waterstart, double loop etc. Then on the first day I watch you sail and we draw up an action plan.
For example, you want to sort out the carve gybes but I note that you seem reluctant to bear away into them for fear of ending up downwind. So first couple of coaching sessions may focus on quicker waterstarts, earlier planing and upwind technique.
 
A typical day
There is no set timetable. The course of events is governed by the strength of the wind, the energy levels and your general mood. However, this is how a day might go on a general skills clinic (Dahab, Tarifa, Mauritius).

a.m.
On the land. A quick individual session on the simulator to iron out any technique glitches spotted on the video the night before.

On the water. The first session is quite structured. We focus on a certain move and do a series of ins and outs followed by immediate feedback. This is especially easy in the lagoons of Dahab and Mauritius where we can stop, stand up in waist deep water, chat about it and review the performance as you take a breather.
I then like to sail with you. During one to one sessions, I can follow you and you can follow me. Sometimes just locking onto someone’s tail (ski school style) is the best way to take your mind off the environment, free yourself of Angst and perform instinctively.

p.m.
For an hour or two after lunch, we chill out and digest. It’s a good time to run through a little theory. We may discuss equipment and set-ups or run through a new manoeuvre on the simulator.
If the wind, energy and enthusiasm are still up, we head out on the water for a late afternoon session during which I’m less ‘in your face’. This is a chance for you to put the tips into practice and generally sail around without being scrutinised!
a.m. and p.m. take on a different meaning in Tarifa where it’s rare to see anyone on the water before midday. But then we often don’t stop sailing until 7pm and don’t eat much before 10. Don’t you just love the Spanish life-style!

Video Analysis
At these high levels where many of the moves take place on the plane, video is an invaluable tool. So many problems arise from the discrepancy between what we think we’re doing and what we’re actually doing. The camera can’t lie
I will do a couple of video sessions during the day. We then replay and analyse the action in the early evening over the cocktail of your choice. I have a projector so I’m afraid there is nowhere to hide. It’s an occasion of enlightenment, humiliation and mirth.

It's a HOLIDAY!
It is absolutely NOT a crime to get horizontal or take days off. In fact I wish people would take days off! At the chosen destinations, it’s not rare for us to get 100% wind ALL day. Over-sailing is a real problem. You can’t perform if your palms are shredded and every muscle and ligament is crying for a break. If I could arrange it I would have the wind drop every third day...

Chilled Atmosphere
I have witnessed Teutonic style courses where large groups are lined up grim-faced in front of the simulator at 8 a.m. with every minute of their day planned out and woe betide them if they're late or step out of line. Personally I don't go much on the formal classroom atmosphere. I will make a rough timetable every day (apart from one - I take one day off ...but only if we've had good wind!). Then it's up to you to join in when the mood takes you. Basically I’m on call day and night. If you want to me to go through a move or explain a point – just find me.
The group spirit is fantastic. Like a mobile internet, everyone shares tips and information and cajoles and encourages each other. There's also a healthy competitive element. Last year we instigated ‘Celebrity Gybe Challenge’. Four who had never gybed before went into a half an hour ‘gybe-off’. Two got round and by the end of the week, they were all at it.

WAVE CLINICS
I love taking wave clinics. It’s such a privilege to be able to introduce people to something so amazingly exciting that they smile for weeks afterwards ...once they've got their breath back.
The brutal reality is that there’s only one way to learn to wave sail and that’s to get out there and get trashed a few times. It’s only then that all the tips and theory begin to make a little sense.
Initially my main job, therefore, is to create an environment where you feel up for going out in conditions that you otherwise might leave alone. In Ireland, for example, I seek out a spot around the bay where the wind is a good angle and where the waves are breaking but are not so monstrous as to put you in survival mode.

When conditions allow, I sail with you one to one as a way to offer a model and a trigger, especially for jumps.
For wave courses, the video is indispensable. Things happen so quickly that often you have no idea what went wrong (or right). The playback makes it blindingly clear where you should have gone and what you should have done.
 
This is what I aim to cover on a wave course.

Theory and The wave environment. Seeing how and why waves break; how wind direction effects the waves themselves and the manoeuvres you can do; the tactics of wave sailing – knowing where to launch, learning how to read the waves, how and where to pick up the waves, which way to ride them and how to choose your line out through them.   'Surf–vival' The ‘what happens if …’ factor, knowing what to do if you go down in the impact zone or if something breaks.   Setting up. How do you set up a wave board and rig? We look at the importance of footstrap adjustment, boom height and harness line length to put you in the best position for manoeuvring – very different from general free-riding.   General skills. On flat water we look at slicker, faster waterstarting techniques; how to sail and get the most out of a wave board, especially early planing and hard carving gybes which form the basis of the bottom turn.   Getting out. Good launching and carrying techniques. The best way to handle the shorebreak. How to punch through white water, how to come back in safely. Jumping. How to squash jumps when you’re trying to make it to the outside, how to set up for big jumps and control flight and landing; if the desire and conditions allow, we can move onto table tops and the crazy stuff. More and more people are coming on my wave courses to learn forward loops.   Riding. The techniques of upwind and downwind riding – understanding which way to go on the wave, where to turn on the wave. For the more advanced, we look at how to keep speed up through the bottom turn and how to get that first aerial.