Yacht designer, sustainability champion, world class windsurfer | Sam Sills
A recent report produced by Brunel University suggests that even a Christmas dinner can produce a carbon emission larger than a single flight from London to New York. With society frequently incorporating methods of being ‘more green’ and reducing its carbon footprint, people are continually looking for new and improved ways of being eco-friendly.
Because of this social change, sustainability is often a passionate cause for many athletes, with AMG supporting Hannah Mills, Saskia Sills and the Big Plastic Pledge. Though he may not be cooking his turkey ‘sous vide’ this year as the scientists advise, champion windsurfer, Sam Sills, has contributed his efforts and championed the reduction of sport’s carbon footprint in an alternative way.
Photo 1: Sam speeding along on his IQ Foil (Credit: Felix Diemer)
It is evident that Sam is heavily influenced by his home county, Cornwall. With white sands, crystal clear seas and plenty of lakes, Sam was quickly hooked on the windsurfing scene available to him, yet equally passionate about maintaining the beauty of the place he fondly calls home.
Having travelled far and wide with the sport – from far flung and exotic locations such as China, to European destinations such as Madeira and Scandinavia – Sam has at times lived in his van for maximum efficiency, decked out with solar panels, facilities to cook and a place to sleep. He does however confess that it was particularly tiring to windsurf at a high level and achieve sufficient rest whilst living on wheels, therefore he is impartial to an Airbnb stay when necessary.
Perhaps Sam’s most exciting contribution to reducing windsurfing’s carbon footprint is through his career as a naval architect which he undertakes alongside competitive windsurfing. Having graduated from Southampton Solent with a 1st class degree in Yacht and Powercraft Design, Sam has put significant efforts into making sailing and board sports greener. In 2014 he was a finalist in the Royal Institution of Naval Architects (RINA) Innovation Design awards with his final year project where he designed a luxury 24m Trimaran in a wood and carbon fibre composite, aimed at investigating sustainable Yacht design alternatives and reducing environmental impact.
Photo 2: one of Sam’s designs
Recently, he has been working on electric boats in Norway with ZEM energy. The boats are without engines, emissions-free, and are almost entirely powered by renewable resources. He has also been working with Kona Sports in Sweden, where they have managed to 3D-print prototypes using a special by-product tree resin, recycled from the wood industry. As a result, prototype boards used in creating the final design, were completely recyclable and created zero waste.
Sam also attributes a lot of his inspiration from sister Saskia. As she is a Geography graduate and works with The Big Plastic Pledge, she understands “how we should face” environmental issues at a deeper level – “that really has been amazing for me to kind of soundboard off her and hear what she thinks in terms of how it can improve things, so that’s been amazing!”
Photo 3: Sam’s sister & sustainability inspiration, Saskia
Not only is Sam championing better methods of sustainability in sport, but so is the wider windsurfer community. Recently, the iQFoil by Starboard became the official Olympic windsurfing equipment and has multiple environmental pledges, including a plastic offset programme and a ‘carbon net positive’ programme, where Starboard plant a mangrove tree for each board produced.
For Sam it is not only about raising awareness surrounding sustainability in sport, but getting people to “kind of fall in love with [nature] and then take more care of it”. Sam, along with his sisters Saskia and Imogen, are Olympic hopefuls for Paris 2024. Currently, he is training in Lanzarote, the Canary Islands, until the racing season begins in March. 2020 is almost over, but Sam Sills Olympic hopes are only just beginning.