Born on the Water: windsurfer Saskia Sills stars in new documentary

The inspiring story of Olympic windsurfing hopeful Saskia Sills is told in a new documentary released by the British Sailing Team.

Cornwall’s Sills, 22, is a former world champion at youth level and a key member of the British Sailing Team, with her sights set on representing Britain at the Paris 2024 Olympics.

However her ride to the top has been anything but smooth – two years ago Sills underwent surgery to her forearms for debilitating compartment syndrome that almost ended her career.

The 15-minute programme, called Born on the Water, charts Sills’ life in windsurfing from learning to sail on a lake in Devon with her family to competing in junior competitions alongside her identical twin sister Imogen.

It follows her rise to the British Sailing Team and the challenges she has faced on and off the water as she juggles the rigours of being an elite athlete with recovery from injury and a university education.

Fittingly the documentary, produced by Murch Films, is released just days after Sills, from Launceston, won her first senior medal on the Olympic circuit – a silver at the World Cup Series final in Marseille, France.