Merry Christmas!!!

A little Santa Surfing with hundreds of people on the water with santa costumes. It is a really fun event here, in Cocoa Beach to support a group helping people get to the cancer treatment they need.

Christmas Training with the Canadians

I arrived a week ago to Cocoa Beach to train with the Canadian team. Because some of the Canadian windsurfers made the Quebec sailing team, Dominique is now a full time coach. This has meant that the team has opened up to other windsurfers for high-level, structured training, giving me an excellent opportunity to receive coaching.

I had four intensive training days with three other girls. We work on technique in the morning and then race in the afternoon. There is another Swedish girl here, so we did some team racing; Sweden vs. Canada. We totaled the scores after 4 races; we were ahead by 2 and then in the third race it went to a tie, unfortunately team Sweden was so tired that we collapsed and lost the series. I fell confident in my progress here and in my results from the practice races.

Over the rest days the boys started to join us, adding a new dynamic of different equipment on the course. We have three more days of training and then it will be Christmas. I am looking forward to the Christmas potluck with a mixture of cultures coming together. On the 26th we will go down to Miami to race for four days at the Orange Bowl Regatta. The plan is for me to return afterwards for another 4-day training bloc before having to return to school for my comprehensive exams.

Happy Thanksgiving!!!!!

Thank you!!!!!

I am so thankful to all of you, my Olympic Windsurfing Family, for helping me reach my goals.

I am thankful for my Clearwater windsurfing family and the wind that has made this Thanksgiving week spectacular. We had lots of sailing, turkey, pies, and laughs.

The Plan Has Developed

My schedule up until February has been set.
Every week starts with a training partner coming to windsurf with me. I practice with the sailing team and make sure my GPA remains high. Before going to a regatta I have another training partner come to join me. The weekends are filled with lots of races and then the dance starts again.

October has and will continue to be focused on college sailing. I have been racing the top schools every weekend where I am learning how to prioritize my needs on the race course, where I am learning how to make calls, and where I am learning how to deal with changes on the course. We started off our competition season by winning Women's District Champs at Charleston. I learned a lot about current while beating Charleston on their own river in light wind and strong current. This qualified us for the Women's Atlantic Coastal Champs. Last weekend I raced at Navy where in one day the conditions were drastically different every race. It was like sailing the first race at a venue every time. This weekend I will race at Yale and the following weekend at Connecticut College.

November arrives with a trip to Miami to race at a local windsurfing event where I will debut my new gear! The third weekend we will go to Cornell for the Women's Atlantic Coastal Champs, which is essentially the National Championships of the fall, that excludes Stanford. Thanksgiving weekends will be spent training.

Once exams are over in December I will go to Cocoa Beach, FL to train with the Canadian team and their coach. We will be training until Christmas and then have a celebration. The following day we will pack up and go to Miami for the Orange Bowl regatta.

January begins after the event and we will return to Cocoa Beach to train for another week. I will then return to school to take my comprehensive exam. During the course of those three weeks I will be returning to Cocoa Beach on the weekends for training and getting on the water between my library sessions. The final week will be the one that we've been waiting for; the ISAF Sailing World Cup in Miami. The event also serves as the 2014 US Sailing Team Sperry Top-sider qualifiers. Qualifying for the team is a reward, but not a necessary stepping stone to the Olympics. At the end of the regatta I will begin to finalize my plan for the Spring.

An example of some extra-curricular training on a no wind day at Cocoa Beach.

Look at the money that has been raised so far! We still have a long way to go however. These funds with the new gear will only last through December. The qualifiers in Miami and any events in Europe or Mexico will be expensive do to air fairs and supporting a coach to come. Please continue to support me. Everyone's support will be different, from helping me get corporate sponsorship to hosting a fundraiser to making a monetary donation, but it takes a big team to make Olympic Dream possible!
Thank you so much for your support!

Time with a coach like Gebi is priceless.
Photo credit Will Ricketson/ US Sailing

CORK

Last weekend I was in Canada racing at the Cork Olympic Classes Regatta. We had very light wind the first two days and had a wide spectrum of conditions on the final day. On the first day I had great starts. There was a lot of pumping to be done, so my hands were very raw by the end of the last day. The racing was very close and I learned that in windsurfing is is especially important to be positioned correctly in the fleet for a shift. For example, it is best to be on the left side of the pack approaching a lefty, because windsurfers have to dig into shifts longer.

The second day was another pumping day, with lots of popped blisters. I sailing much smarter, but my starts were suffering a little. The men (who have more powerful equipment) were on the same starting line and found a new strategy of putting one of us (on the smaller equipment) in between them, to easily squeeze us out as a place holder and create a bigger lane. The starting line was pin favored and because we were sharing the line with the men it was harder to fight for the pin, since it would mean the men would sail over you and take your wind easily.

The final day we had another four races, all with distinctly different wind conditions. We were all exhausted at this point since we were not given the rights that our class rules require. The 6 knot wind minimum and race limit of two races in pumping conditions was not observed. This made for an exhausting event, but gave lots of opportunities for improvement. I learned that I need to practice my pin favored starts in planning conditions, this situation is hard because you have to quickly change your angle to a tight reach while maintaining speed.

Photo Credit David Hein/ Boatyard Photography

Photo Credit David Hein/ Boatyard Photography

Photo Credit David Hein/ Boatyard Photography

Photo Credit David Hein/ Boatyard Photography

On My Way to CORK

I am on the ferry on my way to Kingston, Ontario. I will be facing the Canadians in the CORK Olympic Classes Regatta. The forecast is for their usual light winds, so I will be spending my time pumping. It will be good to examine my different pumping techniques against the top Canadians, before returning to Florida for lots of pumping practice. I am approaching this event as a training event and a good way to get back into competition. This event is important because my next international event will not be until January. It is a time to remind myself of my weaknesses and keep myself on track with my training. I am looking forward to reconnecting with my Canadian friends and to do some racing!

A Pot of Gold

I was able to find a pot of gold at the end of the double rainbow! The Styrons hosted a very successful fundraiser and my Olympic family grew. We raised over $10,000 out of the $60,000 needed this year. Looks like I am getting a new board! Thank you to everyone who came out to support me.

Children of the Wind- My Heros

I finally got to watch Children of the Wind!

I was hanging on every word of these guys who inspired me to follow my dreams in windsurfing.

I made the 2013 ICSA All-Conference All-Academic Sailing Team!

Eckerd Trio Recognized to ICSA All-Conference All-Academic Sailing Team

MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. – The Intercollegiate Sailing Association (ICSA) has elected three members of the Eckerd College coed and women’s programs as part of the 2013 All-Conference All-Academic Sailing Team.

Accomplished seniors Wes Byrne and Emily Mitchell along with returning junior skipper Solvig Sayre were all chosen through a seven-person committee featuring representatives from each conference.

The 2013 All-Academic Sailing Team recognizes collegiate sailors who have achieved excellence in national and interconference competition as well as excelling at the highest level for the 2012-13 academic year.

“It takes a lot of dedication to concentrate on sailing while also taking care of academics,” said EC Head Coach Kevin Reali. “To be recognized for a combination of those two is very good. We’re very proud of our student-athletes for their work in the classroom.”

A nominated sailor must have a minimum of a 3.5 cumulative GPA (on a 4.0 scale), junior or senior academic standing and they must be a key starter reserve on a school’s sailing team.

This year’s All-Academic Team is comprised of nine First Team members, 10 Second Team members and 32 All-Conference members.

Byrne graduated with his degree in Psychology, Mitchell majored in Environmental Studies during her career and Sayre is completing her education in the field of International Relations.

Welcome to my new website! As I am working with the new format, I will be adding some of the old posts to get you up to speed on this summer's events.

Happy Summer!!!!!!
I sailed in A division for Eckerd College at Women's Sailing National Championships and the team placed twelfth. I regained focus after this past year disappointments. I am teaching windsurfing this summer at Vineyard Haven YC and training on Martha's Vineyard with other staff members.