Sayre completes fasted wing foil around Island

Nevin Sayre wasn’t sure if this year’s annual ride around the Island on his wing foil to support Martha’s Vineyard Community Services (MVCS) would happen when expected. There seemed to be less wind than he anticipated this past Saturday.

He was at Inkwell Beach by 10:15 am Saturday anyways, and just after he put on his navy blue and orange wetsuit, goggles, and shark deterrent band, and clipped his helmet on, he shouted back to his trailing supporters that the wind had “gone down even more” as he entered the water for a test run.

Nobody said a word back, but a quiet hope — for a smooth ride along the South Shore, favorable current up the sound, no sharks, and strong and steady winds — hung over the small crew of friends and family who gathered at the beach Saturday morning. And while it was nearly impossible that there would be none, they all hoped that when the seaweed did come, it came scarcely, and Sayre would be able to wiggle it off the board with little interruption.

After his test run at around 10:30 am, circling around and up and down in the bay off Inkwell Beach, and with a steady 12 to 15 mph wind pushing from the north-northeast, he came back to the shore with a renewed smile on his face and said to the crowd: “10:45 start.”

“I’m so elated it all worked out today because when I left I wasn’t sure,” Sayre, Vineyard Haven resident and hall of fame windsurfer, said in an interview with The Times after completing the circumnavigation. “I was expecting I would get around Wasque, and there wouldn’t be enough wind, and the boat would have to pick me up. Wasque wasn’t that bad though; it can be super gnarly there.”

Sayre began walking into the water to start his run at 10:45 am. He walked until the majority of his body slipped beneath the surface, then hoisted himself onto his board on his knees, held up his wing high in his right hand, and pumped it in the wind to pick up speed then jumped onto his feet and sailed off. Sayre uses a new form of windsurfing called wing foiling, which uses an underwater hydrofoil and a hand-held wing.

“He makes it look so beautiful,” Denise Halpert said as Sayre foiled around in the water.  “Yes he does,” Stina Sayre, Nevin’s wife, said.

As he departed everyone cheered, not just his small crew of supporters but many others who watched out of pure amazement or enjoyment.

By takeoff, Sayre already raised nearly $50,000 dollars for MVCS, just short of the $55,000 goal — $1,000 for each mile around the Island. By the time he returned from his ride, at roughly 3:03 pm, he just cleared $50,000, and by the following Tuesday at 11 am, donations reached more than $60,000, surpassing the goal.

Sayre said his love for MVCS and drive to support them comes from his mother, Harriet Hart Sayre, who served on the organization’s board. She died in 2003.

“Community services is the organization on the Island that really services Islanders. One in every four Islanders receive services from MVCS,” Sayre said. “There’s a lot of great organizations and charities on this Island, but community services directly affect Islanders, and that’s why it was dear to my mom and dear to me.”

Despite concerns surrounding the strength and consistency of the wind on Saturday, this circumnavigation of the Island — which was his third “Round the Vineyard Challenge”  to raise money for MVCS — was his fastest one yet by more than 30 minutes. His final time was 4 hours and 18 minutes. He beat last year’s time, when he clocked in 4 hours and 55 minutes. 

In previous years, Sayre found himself waiting on his board, like during his first year in 2024,, when he sat on his foil board for more than an hour off Gay Head, and in 2025, when he sat in the same spot for nearly 17 minutes, waiting for the winds to pick up. But this time around, Sayre said, on the South Shore, near Squibnocket, Sayre sat for only about 15 minutes before the wind picked back up, and he continued his journey.

“The forecast was all over the place coming into this. I was expecting light wind and for it to fill in, and it did. The question was will it be windy enough to take on the South Shore, and it was marginal, but it was windy enough. I made it,” Sayre said.

Along the South Shore, the wind would pulse, Sayre said.

“It would drop, and I would have to pump the foil with my legs, which is tiring. The pulses were close enough together that in between I could pump for a minute or so, and that was doable,”  he added.

Sayre’s fastest speed, according to the Waterspeed app that tracked him, was 22.2 knots, roughly 25 miles per hour. Sayre said it likely occurred at Tashmoo, when the currents were with him, and the water smoothed.

“Even though I was going upwind, I was booking,” Sayre said. “The wind and currents were good.”

One detriment, as Sayre has always said, was the seaweed, but it was better than previous years. The sun was shining just right, so he could see and avoid surface level clumps. 

“When I got to Cape Pogue, I hit a patch and went over the handlebars. There was only one other time I hit a patch and had to stop to pull the seaweed off. I also think I’ve gotten better riding with a little bit of seaweed. There’s a lot of turbulence, but sometimes it comes off.”

Sayre also hit a fish.

“Off Makonikey, I hit a fish and went over the handlebars and saw a tail,” Sayre said. “I looked, and the fish was trying to get out of there. I have no idea how big it was, but it was big enough to stop me — dead stop. I have no idea what kind of fish. The tail was not small, and I climbed up on my board as fast as I could.”

Despite a few bumps in the road, Sayre made it in record time and surpassed his fundraising goal.

“Every penny goes to services, and I request it doesn’t go to buildings or anything like that, and that it goes to services,” Sayre said.

Patrick Ramage, chief advancement officer for MVCS, said the money will go towards mental health and substance abuse programs, early childhood education, and general programmatic support. 

“I get to work with some of the most committed public servants that are working in fields of mental health, sexual and domestic violence, veterans affairs, and early childhood education, and Nevin’s commitment mirrors the commitments of my colleagues and inspires all of us,” Ramage said. “In the end community services depend on community support, and Nevin is at the vanguard of that.”

Through the past three years of Sayre’s circumnavigations, he’s raised more than $150,000 for MVCS. Sayre made a point to recognize that he was just “one more volunteer,” who supports and believes in the MVCS.

“There’s a lot of people who volunteer for community services. I recognize them, and that gives me inspiration to do this,” he said. 

“It’s so personally generous of [Sayre] to expend himself the way he does for us,” Ramage said. “The quiet satisfaction and gratification from serving a community in need is unique.”