Farrah Hall

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Baltimore Sun Photo Shoot

Farrah's Uphill Battle To Sail In The 2008 Olympics

Farrah Hall is a sailor, most notably of the women's Olympic Windsurfing RS:X Class (the Neil Pryde). She is competing to represent the United States as a member of the 2008 US Olympic team.

[edit] Biography

Farrah Hall was born on August 1, 1981 in Annapolis, Maryland, which is known as the “Sailing Capital of the World.” She started sailing small sailboats around age 13. As a child she was involved in soccer, lacrosse, basketball, and swam for the Naval Academy Junior Swim Club. She attended Broadneck High School and was heavily involved with the running team. She was on the varsity cross country, indoor track, and outdoor track teams. By age 16 she became involved with triathlon and participated in various local Olympic-distance events around Maryland. She graduated high school in 1999 and continued with triathlon through college, and ran marathons as well. Taking a break from running during college Farrah swam distance freestyle events with the varsity swim team.

She attended college at St. Mary's College of Maryland, which is a school well-known for its excellent sailing program. During this time, she began to shift focus to windsurfing. She spent the summers of 1999 and 2000 working for Wind’s Up, a windsurfing rental shop on Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts. During her sophomore year of college, she started St. Mary’s College Windsurfing Club with three members and a bunch of old longboards and rigs from the 1980s that were acquired at a local windsurf swap meet.

Through fund-raising for the club they bought modern gear including Sailworks sails, masts, and wide-style beginner boards. She organized events including fun regattas, annual trips to Cape Hatteras and the Florida Keys, and weekly learn-to-windsurf sessions. Annually the club held a community learn-to-windsurf session that taught windsurfing basics to about 70 students in one day. In 2002, the St. Mary's College Windsurfing Club won the “Best New Club” award from the Student Government Association. The club is still active with about 15 active members and generates a lot of attention across campus.

During her junior year at St. Mary’s, the windsurfing club and sailing team were visited by Mike Gebhardt, a two-time Olympic medalist. During that visit, she learned that windsurfing was an Olympic sport. She began racing locally on an old Mistral Olympic-class sailboard. Upon graduating college in 2003 she moved to St. Petersburg, Florida, and Farrah started her Olympic campaign in May, 2005 when ISAF switched the Olympic class from Mistral to the NeilPryde RS:X.