This page is inspired by my brother's story of selfless heroism and sportsmanship in the windsurfing community. Here is his story and more great stories from this great community!
My brother, Karl Rasmus "Raz" Sayre, is
an excellent example of the windsurfing community. When he was racing in
Cozumel, Mexico a couple years ago, his own talent was starting to
shine. Racing in first place, he miraculously was able to see a hand pop up between
the waves. He abandoned his first place position to investigate what the matter
was. A girl in another division had had equipment failure and become separated
from her board without a life jacket on. The current was strong, the waves were
large, and they were well off-shore. He pulled her onto his board and attempted
to sail to safety; finally a fishing boat saw that they were in trouble and
were able to bring them to shore. Raz had saved her life.
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| From left, Elie Jordi, Eli Hanschka, and Whit Hanschka walk along a snow-covered path to Stonewall beach and the waiting waves. –Photo by Michael Cummo |
Images and words by Timothy Venn.
An incredible story about a Miami friend leaving Cuba for Miami on a windsurfer and finding his place in the world through windsurfing. Read more by clicking on the title or here.
This is an amazing story about Hannes Rieger, a man who lost his leg when he was 19 years old and a few years later became addicted to windsurfing! Further proving that windsurfing is a sport for everyone and quickly becomes a passion. Check out the trailer for the documentary "One Foot Off" by clicking on the title or here.
Taty Frans has been one of my greatest inspirations and he continues to amaze me. He has recently started competing in slalom racing, in addition to the freestyle competitions he has been dominating. This is his first year of being a full time slalom racer (he is still a full time freestyle competitor) and he finished the year ranked 9th in the Overall PWA Slalom and 9th Overall PWA freestyle; super impressive! Read what Taty has to say about the last regatta in New Caldonia by clicking on the title or here.
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| All Grown Up and Taking Home Medals! |
My little brother, Raz won the Kona World Championships at the start of November in Islamorada, FL. This is pretty impressive. Kona is a windsurfing class that is designed to attract windsurfers from all back grounds to come and race together at a high level. Unlike the RS:X, because of the Kona's ban on pumping (moving the sail to create more wind and go faster), this one-design class values a strong tactician over fitness and is therefore able to attract many generations of windsurfers. The Kona's one-design structure is on an old-school long board, simple rig, and sail sizes that match weight classes. Raz was able to show his dominance over top North American RS:X sailors, the Swedes who generally dominate the class, and those who were extremely good windsurfers in past decades, all through a large range of wind. Super proud of my big little brother!
Read more by clicking on the title or here.
Andrew 'Bart' Simpson was an avid sailor and died in a tragic accident while preparing for the America's Cup. In honor of his enthusiasm for sailing, a world wide annual regatta was created, called Bart's Bash to create inspiration for sailing and raise money for the Andrew Simpson Sailing Foundation. The foundation is geared towards helping the next generation learn life lessons and skills through sailing and to help gain access to maritime jobs.
To set the new Guinness World Record 30,717 sailors participated and 87,072,769 meters were sailed, that's almost twice around the world! Read more by clicking on the title or here.
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| He is too fast to be captured on film! |
Taty Frans, one of the top freestyle windsurfers in the world and an inspiration for me is not slow either! He has been getting into racing and speed. He was honored with an invitation to compete in a pool in Warsaw. It is very tricky to sail with the power being from fans, but the energy is very high when putting on a show for a stadium full of people! Pretty cool! Not only is he artistic on the water, but can also go 25 kts in a pool, taking the record! Read more by clicking on the title or here.
My coach from my days of sailing at Eckerd College, Zack Marks just entered his time for a long distance competition that takes place over the summer. He competed on a foiling kite board, using the wind from Hurricane Arthur. His best time so far is 30 seconds short at 01:03:08.
How Windsurfing Changed Marji's Life
Words and photography by Markus Seidel.
Marjorie Keith was born in Michigan, USA in 1972 . She was employed as a broker in New York on the 105th floor of the World Trade Centre from 1993 to 1999. In 1999 Majorie took an internal transfer and began work in Milan; however, her life was still dramatically affected by the events of 9/11. Now, her life that was once filled with the facts and figures of the stock exchange, has been taken over by vulcans, flakas and words of wisdom from the Frans brothers.
Read more by clicking on the title or here.
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