HEART WRENCH – A REFLECTION OF COURAGE ON THE WATER

August 16, 2023 / Wing

MEET WREN DOUGHERTY…

…a gifted 35 year-old tech engineer turned wing ripper who only last year entered her first races. She’s already among the leading chargers in women’s racing in the US and courageously dedicated her recent wins to the memory of her father, who passed away with cancer last winter. Wren dug deep to grind her way through the six hour endurance race in super strong winds on a 3m Fly wing at the 2023 Kiteboard4Cancer event; a race set up to reflect a cancer patient’s daily challenge.

After an accident made it difficult for her to comfortably continue kiteboarding in footstraps, she tried wingfoiling three years ago, using the original Wasp V1, and has been hooked ever since.

As a senior staff engineer for Airbnb, she’s now set her life up to be as free as possible to feed her wing addiction. She’s also found power within the wind sports community of Hood River, USA where she’s based most of the year.

Having only entered her first competition in 2022 at the age of 34 (the Gorge Paddle Challenge), Wren has also qualified to join the US Team for the World Beach Games.

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BACKGROUND

WORDS: Wren Dougherty

While growing up I was never an athlete. I was a bona fide ‘nerd’ and spent all my time doing bonus maths and chemistry work, reading every book I could get my hands on, playing in the marching band and building robots. It wasn’t until my late 20’s that I realised nerds could do sports too!

I saw a kiteboarder for the first time in 2015 and dropped EVERYTHING to go and learn. I was addicted from the moment I discovered those sensations on the water!

Since damaging cartilage in my ankle I’ve been having fun pushing my strapless freestyle, discovering surfing and winging as much as I can.

MOTIVATION

Thanks to being able to do my job remotely, when my dad was diagnosed with terminal cancer last summer I was able to fly home and help care for him, from his first diagnostic appointment through to his passing in the winter. I was in awe of the daily grit he dug up to maintain his spirits despite the suffering. I was equally amazed by the attitude of the doctors, nurses, hospital staff and other patients I met throughout this journey.

It was a hard winter, but one of the silver linings has been how the inescapability of grief unites us.

KB4C is a massive celebration of how lucky we all are to be here, and offers a way for us to give back together. Every year I’m overwhelmed by the sheer amount of generosity in the event – so many companies, individuals and teams give their time, money and effort to pull this massive event off.

I met Steve Fisher, the golden hearted organizer of KB4C and fellow Ozone rider, a few years ago when I moved to the Gorge and started volunteering at KB4C. The wind sports community has always been a special one – everyone roots for each other – and when we rally around a cause it’s even more magical!

The six hour endurance race at KB4C is meant to represent the journey that cancer patients go through every day, and was a poignant time for me to leave it all out on the water while reflecting over the struggle of the last year.

There were definitely some tears involved, but my family flew out for the event and it was actually the first time that my mom had ever seen me wing! She really only had a vague concept of what on earth I get up to on the water, so it was a special time to share with her.

KB4C

This is a WILD race! It’s one small course with kiteboarders, kitefoilers and wingers all going at it! That’s not to mention all the non-racers flying around on the river with us. There wasn’t a dull moment out there in the high traffic and insane winds.

2023 was the windiest ever KB4C!

The wind started ‘Gorge moderate strong’ and I was perfect on my 3m Ozone Fly, but an hour later the wind really kicked into high gear. As the gusts leapt into the mid 30s I considered going in for a snack and to switch down to a 2m, but I kept reflecting on what the last year had been like for my dad and his superhuman ability to keep smiling and joking.

I kept telling myself, “WOW, I’m so lucky to be healthy and out here with my friends, doing what I love. I can handle anything. I can hold this down for another lap!”.

ALMOST 100 MILES DONE!

I had some nasty high speed wipeouts, but each time one of my buddies would fly by with words of encouragement, scooping me back to my feet. Six hours, 67 “just one more lap” efforts and 98 miles later I’d made it without taking a break. I was so stoked that I did a bonus lap before heading in to celebrate with the family.

My 3m Fly wing held up amazingly – it’s no stranger to 30+ knot Gorge gusts and pinches upwind so well that I was able to translate being overpowered into some great angles on the upwind leg.

GORGE PADDLE CHALLENGE & TEAM USA

Wren’s first race in any sport was at the 2022 Gorge Paddle Challenge event that had recently opened up to foilers and wingfoilers. The entry numbers were so low for the women that she was the only one to enter the ‘pro’ division.

2023 turned into a huge year for the ladies though; they made up almost a third of the entire fleet in both the downwind discipline and course racing.

Wren took the downwind race win ahead of 11 other competitors and finished third in a fleet of eight in the course racing.

By also winning the North American Race Championship back in April, Wren qualified to join Team USA for the World Beach Games that were due to take place in Bali, Indonesia in August, though the Games were suddenly and sadly cancelled when the hosts pulled out.

WREN’S FLIGHT PATH – PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE

WORDS: Wren

I was a farm kid and navy brat and, as part of that, my parents instilled a strong value of a life of service. I feel so at home and welcome in the wind and water community and am excited to now take some time to consider how to give back.

I’m a huge admirer of KB4C, Erica Lichte’s SEASTR, Wylde Wind & Water, and all the other athletes and programs that use our love of sports to expand access and opportunity.

I’m also excited to see more women get into foiling. There’s so much technique, subtlety and grace in each discipline. We’ve got amazing examples of female shredders all over the world to inspire us!

Last year I was the only woman in the Gorge Paddle Challenge Pro course race, and this year we hit a third of the overall number of competitors. I think we can get even more next year!

WORK / LIFE / SPORT

I’m a Senior Staff Engineer at Airbnb, focused on safety and equity in machine learning and AI. It’s my absolute dream job! I’ve spent decades studying mathematics, signal processing, software and data science, law and philosophy, and I use my experience in each almost every day.

It’s a particularly interesting time to work in this space – there has been an increasing awareness of how machine systems are impacting more systems across our lives with huge potential for both risk and benefit.

It doesn’t seem immediately obvious that this relates to my sports life, but it’s hard work that requires a lot of grit, iteration and determination. The ‘growth’ mindset I have from continuously pushing myself on a foil reminds me every day that it’s okay for things to be hard and feel impossible. Sometimes impossible things just take the dedication of taking tiny steps each day to improve.

As a bonus, I work remotely so I’m able to migrate around the world throughout the year chasing wind and waves. You may see me in the middle of the water sitting on my board frantically sending emails some days… I kid you not; I’ve taken a few Zoom meetings from the middle of the ocean!

Follow Wren: @heart_wrench

PHOTOS COURTESY:
Bob Stawicki
Jorge Figueroa
Dario Tani

FEATURE RELATED LINKS:
KB4C
Gorge Paddle Challenge
Wylde Wind & Water
Erica Lichte’s SEASTR