Solvig Sayre's Olympic Campaign

I am a 20 year old windsurfer who is working hard to compete in the Olympics. I started windsurfing when I was 3 and half years old and started sailing in Beatle Cat boats when I was 7. I sailed optimists from age 9, when I was 12 I fell in love with sailing the 420. I have been on the Vineyard Haven Yacht Club Race team for 2 years and on the Martha\'s Vineyard Regional High School sailing team for 4 years. I am a sophmore at Eckerd College where I am on the sailing team.
Ever since I was little I have had the dream of going to the Olympics. It seemed like a far off fantasy until a few winters ago (January 2008) when US Sailing Team member, Karen Marriott, brought up the question of going for the Olympics. Suddenly I knew it was my time to start a more focused training and prepare for the next quadrant. In 2009 I went to Buzios, Brazil where I was the sole US female representative in the RS:X class (the Olympic windsurfing class) at the ISAF Volvo Youth World Championships.
This past January I became a member of US Sailing Team Alphagraphics for the 3rd year.
In the 2012 US Olympic Trials I placed second.

This January I completed a long distance course while training and racing. I arrived in Cocoa Beach, Florida New Years Eve to train for two weeks with the French Canadians. We unfortunately had very little wind and a series of three days without a ripple. We had some waves and I finally was able to stand up surfing!!!!! It was so much fun to learn something new and reminded me how badly I wanted to improve my windsurfing.
I then arrived in Miami to meet Carson, a new American RS:X sailor, and our new coach. Uri is from Spain and has converted me into the standard Spanish windsurfer. My tacks are completely different and I am now sailing faster, higher, and with more stability. This new way of sailing allows me to sail more powerfully without compromising finesse; it makes feel taller!!!
After the four days of training I had two days to take it easy before racing in the Miami Olympic Classes Regatta. My goal for the regatta was to make it in the medal race, the top ten, and more ambitiously, place 7th or 8th. I was able to place 7th! I was also able to post a few 4th places and 6th in the medal race. As you know I come from a background of dinghy sailing, making one of me strengths tactics. These tactics come into play mainly in light air, but this regatta I had my stronger days in high winds. I think this is a true testament to my trainings with a coach.
Donations helped me pay for a coach with a boat, a new sail, spare parts, and living expenses for the coach and I. Things on the RS:X unfortunately break often, so I was forced to replace a lot of pieces, including a new sail. I really needed a second sail, since my old practice sail was more tape and replacement panels than original material. I know I need a coach that I can trust to be supportive, provide me with vital knowledge, and inspire me to excel. I hired a coach after loosing several points in Europe for simple mistakes that a support person could have helped me. After realizing how vital a support boat is, I decided I would never do another world cup event without a support boat. Last summer I made it my goal to find a coach, I think Uri might be that coach!
This Spring I will continue college sailing along with my studies. Once done with school I will go to the Netherlands to prepare for and then race in the Delta Lloyd Regatta in May. I will then travel to Weymouth, England, the site of the 2012 Olympics to train for a week and then compete in the Sail for Gold Regatta.

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