This summer I traveled to three continents and across the country to compete in five windsurfing events. I started with the most important event, the Volvo Youth Sailing ISAF World Championships in Buzios, Brazil in July. Buzios is a small fishing village known for its wind, but it was off-season and we saw a wide variety of conditions. We had the typical seabreeze at the beginning of the competition and again at the end, with moderate to heavy winds and swell coming in. There were also a few days of light wind with flat water, as the wind switched to an offshore breeze driven by a cold front.The competition was tough, with only the top U19 (under age 19) girl from each country attending. The girl from Hong Kong won and is currently ranked 34th in the world, and the British girl who finished second went on to win the RS:X Youth Worlds in Turkey. The U.S. was in the bottom of the fleet in both girls and boys. Besides the one calm day, the conditions were not what I perform strongly in, but nonetheless I would’ve wished to have done better. The tough days taught me to value my father’s presence at other events, where I can talk to him about what’s going wrong and how to turn the race into an area of my strengths. [Editor’s note: Solvig’s father is former professional boardsailor Nevin Sayre.]
On the lay day, we rented dune buggies to go to the beach and then tour the hills. After the competition, I spent a day in Rio de Janeiro with some of the U.S. Team. We went to Copacabana and up to Corcovado, where the Christ the Redeemer statue stands 120 feet tall on a mountain peak 2,300 feet high. The statue overlooks the city and is breathtaking. As a person afraid of heights I was unable to fully appreciate the view and the impressive height, but I understand why it’s considered to be one of the modern Seven Wonders of the World.
After a nightmare of flight cancellations and terrible layovers, my teammate Chris Gardiner and I arrived in Hood River, OR approximately 35 hours late. This delay meant that we’d missed the training camp preceding the Bic Techno 293 Nationals and were not physically ready to race in the windy conditions of the Columbia River Gorge. My dad picked us up at the airport. He was there coaching my brother Rasmus and I, and he gave me the moral support I needed and helped me refocus on Nationals.
The first day of competition was too windy for the Techno 293 fleet to go out, so we watched the other classes go out and blow up on the slalom course with winds up to 40 knots [the US Windsurfing National Championships were held concurrently]. It was still too windy for course racing the next day, so we went out to race on the slalom course. Slalom is a downwind course, similar to downhill skiing with slalom gates. None of us had ever raced slalom and it was a lot of fun. I placed third overall, racing purely for the enjoyment and experimenting with an unfamiliar discipline. The wind decreased dramatically the following day and the course racing began. The courses were a bit unconventional and I started off with a DSQ because I went to the wrong mark. I quickly recovered, and was able to use my strength in light winds to my advantage, winning the two days of course racing. [“Raz” Sayre finished fourth in course racing and sixth in slalom.]
One night, on the way to dinner at my dad’s friend’s house in Washington State, the drawbridge across the Columbia River was up – a very rare occasion – and we did a little mandatory sightseeing. As I walked to the car after looking up and down the river, I noticed snow-covered Mount Hood for the first time...I guess you’re concentrating so much when you’re racing that you forget to look up and around to admire your surroundings!
We went from hot and dry Oregon to the Techno 293 North Americans, hosted by St. Francis Yacht Club in San Francisco, where the humidity was so heavy it sometimes turned to rain and would block the sun from warming us up to a sane temperature. We benefited from the fog, however, which held the wind below 25 knots and kept it from blowing us off the water. The current in San Francisco Bay switches directions circularly. The line that divides the flooding and ebbing tide moves across the racecourse, making each race unique. The wind was unsteady so there was a constant war between the current strength and wind strength, and I had to continually choose between putting down the centerboard (you can point higher but you go slower) or planing upwind.
The conditions were some of the most challenging I’ve ever raced in. We had a race where a ferry cut through our very short starting line and another where a top competitor couldn’t get off the line because of the current. Luckily, my dad was on the beach advising me on the current and how it should play into my race. In the race that I won, I put my centerboard down and sailed up the middle, where the land protected the course from the wind and the current was a weaker flood. It was painfully slow, but I stuck with it and ended up being the first to round the windward mark. My upwind planing speed was suffering and I finished the regatta in third place overall. [Solvig and Raz each won their age divisions.]
On the day my family and I flew out, I went sailing on my host family’s 29er. We were weaving through three big boat races, ferry lanes and shipping channels, and we spent a lot of time in the water as I became accustomed to sailing a skiff. It was definitely a highlight of the trip...next time we’ll sail it right under the Golden Gate!
After a day’s rest, I drove with my brother and father to Chatham, MA to compete in the East Coast Junior Olympic Windsurfing Championships. After a day of practice, we raced in an inlet where the shore kept the 18-knot breeze from causing any chop. It was nice on the flat water; I had no reason to fear an 8.3 meter rig in the gusts, and no pockets of air to leeward of the fin that would cause me to slide downwind. There was a record turnout, with a great showing from Vineyard Haven Yacht Club (my home club) and Chatham Yacht Club (the host), and plenty of Canadians. The competition was less experienced, but I still had a lot of fun on the racecourse [Solvig won this event handily and Raz topped the U15 division]. I became really good friends with one of the Canadian girls, especially during our week together in England.
Jump two weeks and five time zones ahead to Weymouth, England (the site of the 2012 Olympic Regatta) for the Techno 293 One Design Class World Championships and the Youth and Masters Race Board World Championships. Five American windsurfers qualified for funding from US SAILING to compete in Weymouth by competing in the Techno 293 North American Championships. In the Race Board class, you can race on any windsurfing board that has a mast track and centerboard with a maximum 9.5 meter sail size. Since I’m too old to race Techno 293 (it’s a U17 class internationally and U19 in the States) and because I’m now only racing RS:X, I joined the majority of the youth competitors in racing RS:X.
Unfortunately, I was recovering from a cold when I traveled to England and after two races I fell ill again. It was a big disappointment not to be able to perform at my best. This was an international event, but not part of the RS:X tour, so the fleet was made up of a wide range of abilities. It would’ve been a great chance for me to test my skills and see how I match up against other windsurfers in the world.
My travels have been very exciting with a wide range of competitive levels and conditions. I’ve tested all of my skills – from pumping to planing, from flat water to swells, from a match race to a ‘grind ‘em down’ race – and I’ve made friends with people all over the world. I’m currently working out my calendar of events for next year and starting my training cycle over in order to peak at the Rolex Miami OCR in January. Many thanks to the US Sailing Team AlphaGraphics sponsors and the private citizens who support me in reaching my goals. Join me in my journey at cleverpig.org/SolvigS. ✦
Solvig Sayre, 17, is a senior at Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School. The youngest member of the US Sailing Team AlphaGraphics, she hopes to represent the U.S. in the Women’s RS:X at the 2012 Olympics.
