Bio

Solvig Sayre


I was born into the windsurfing community. My parents met on the world tour as pro windsurfers. My dad got me on a board when I was three, in a little tidal pond, with a bribe of ice cream. When my younger brother was old enough to stand, my parents built a mini windsurfing sail on a board and kept it on the lawn for him to play with. Windsurfing became a family event. Our Christmas card one year shows all four of us on a tandem board to which my dad had added extra sails. We still compete in the same events sometimes.

2006 New Year Card

Sayre family sweep! My dad, brother, and I at Merritt Island, FL in 2012    

My parents have encouraged other young sailors in windsurfing. My dad has organized many Kid’s Camps, at which I’ve taught, putting kids on boards for the first time. When I was nine, 13 kids ages 11 to 18 arrived at my house in Falmouth from Bonaire, to compete in the local professional event. They returned home to a hero’s welcome, carrying cash prizes as pro athletes. I also competed in the event, in the novice mens' division, on a tandem board with my dad. The joy I had from competing with them and watching their success is what has inspired me to go to the Olympics in windsurfing.  For my full story with them and how I got started on the Olympic path click here and for the trailer to the excellent movie about their story, Children of the Wind, click here.

My dad with participants at the Kids Camp at the King of the Cape

Raz, Kiri Thode, Connor Baxter

Photo at the awards ceremony at the first year they came.
Kiri is the one behind the flag, Raz is on my dad's shoulders,
and the purple elbow on the right is me!

I have chosen to hold onto my identity as a windsurfer, even though I have represented my club, high school, and college racing dinghies. I have done so partially because it is part of my familial identity, but also because the sport brings me more joy than I can describe. A windsurfing friend of mine went skydiving once and when she landed the instructor said, 'wasn't that the most amazing thing you've ever done?!' and in her head she said, 'you've clearly never gone down wind, fully powered up on a formula board.' There is nothing that can compare! And the people you meet are also amazing. I have recently taught a few adults how to windsurf, and when they finished their first lesson they were so baffled about how much fun it was! They were shocked that they had waited so long to take a lesson and immediately started looking into buying some of their own gear.

There are so many aspects to windsurfing, from waves to slalom.

Here is a video my family made of us on a tandem formula board, riding some swell!

I am one of few Americans, especially women, involved in competitive Windsurfing. I want to make the United States a bigger part of the sport, through competing in the Olympics. I want to show the world that the U.S. is capable of making a positive impact on the sport by raising the talent level with home gown windsurfers. I also want to bring more Americans into the windsurfing community.

I’ve seen firsthand what the sport does for my students and my fellow windsurfers. In the summers, I coach kids and I love creating new windsurfers. I love watching kids’ eyes light up when their success is the direct result of their own effort and involvement.  Learning to windsurf is full of failed attempts, and when the student I am teaching finally gets it, it is truly their accomplishment, their victory. I set goals for them, but I can’t do it for them, and can’t even engineer success for them – they have their hands on the boom, and have to make decisions and land in the water. The chief lesson they learn, as I have, is that it takes many tries to achieve. They won’t learn to sail unless they fail, many times. Later on, the kids who learn to windsurf won’t need to have someone hold their hand making life decisions; they’ll have faith in their own ability, and they’ll just keep on trying in the face of setbacks

This is what I love about windsurfing at the Olympic level, too. As a windsurfer, I experience failure regularly, both for those things I can’t control and have to accept, and those things that I have to own totally. 

At World Cup Miami this year, I sailed really well until the second to last day of competition. I made some boneheaded moves in two races, and lost a sizable margin going into the final day of racing.  I could have recovered on the last day of racing, except no races were held due to poor conditions, so the results from the second to last day stood. I’ve learned that I have to perform the best I can every time I go out, because there are a lot of factors beyond my control. 

I also can completely accept my boneheaded moves, because no one but me is responsible for them, and I learn from them. When I see where I went wrong, I can fix it; nobody else can do that for me. I can recover from these defeats because I also know I can sail really well, as I did in the first races in Miami.

People often ask why I do Olympic windsurfing when it requires me to use equipment that is low performance and not any cheaper. I love the community of racers; it is a fun and competitive group. We are all on the same equipment, so it is about who works the hardest and who sails the smartest in the race. We all go to the same events, we face similar battles, and we celebrate our triumphs together.

              Beyond that, our sport is full of stories of people helping each other, and changing lives. Check out the Community Stories page by clicking here for some more great stories. The windsurfing community fought hard when our sport was temporarily eliminated from the Olympics. We came back to show that we deserve to compete in the Olympics. I’m proud of the windsurfing community, and of our supporters. I sail for my Yacht Club, VHYC, for my community of Vineyard Haven, and to represent the vast and varied people of this great nation. 

2014                    member, Inter-Collegiate Sailing Association All- Academic Sailing Team, Second Team. With over 5,000 college sailors registered, that puts me in the top 0.4%!

2014                    Graduated with Honors and Phi Beta Kappa, Eckerd College, in International Relations

2014                     4th place, RS:X North Americans

2014                     5th place, RS:X US Nationals

2014                     14th place, Sailing World Cup Miami

2014                     12th place, ICSA Women’s National Championships

2014                      member, US Sailing Development Team

2010-2014            Eckerd College Varsity Sailing team

2013                     14th place, Sailing World Cup Miami

2013                     12th place, ICSA Women’s National Championships

2013                     member, Inter-Collegiate Sailing Association All-Conference All-Academic Sailing Team

2012                      US Alternate, 2012 Olympic Games

2012                      7th place, Miami Rolex Olympic Classes Regatta

2012                     18th place, Delta Lloyd

2012                      member, US Sailing Development Team

2011                      2nd place, US Olympic Trials

2009-2011             member, US Sailing Team AlphaGraphics

2010                      Captain, Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School Sailing Team and a Sailing Team member all four years of High School.

2010                      5th place, RS:X North Americans

2009                      Buzios, Brazil sole US female representative in the RS:X class (the Olympic windsurfing class) at the ISAF Volvo Youth World Championships

2009                      21st place, Miami Rolex Olympic Classes Regatta

2009                     3rd place, Techno 293 North American Championships

2009                     1st place, Techno 293 USWA National Championships

2008                     Vineyard Haven Yacht Club Vice-Commodore’s Cup recipient

2007                     Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School Sailing Team Most Improved

2007                     1st place, East Coast Junior Olympic Windsurfing Championships

2001                     3rd place Novice Men’s, King of the Cape Freestyle competition and my first windsurfing competition