Finian Maynard (FMX Racing) is one of the finest racers of his generation with the 50-year-old enjoying a glittering career, which spanned four decades. Having made his debut in 1989, Maynard achieved his first podium in 1993 before going on to win his first of five events in 1999 at the PWA Speed World Cup in Leucate, France. As well as enjoying success on the World Tour, Maynard was a speed specialist, culminating in him becoming the ISA/ISWC Speed World Champion on five occasions (1998, 2000, 2001, 2006 & 2009). Having enjoyed plenty of success on the water himself, Maynard then setup his own brand - FMX Racing - in 2019, which proved to be a hugely successful venture. With a wealth of knowledge, and unrivalled passion, Maynard was able to craft cutting edge boards, which earned multiple world titles - most recently with Justine Lemeteyer (FMX Racing / S2Maui) this season - so after achieving his own dreams he has also helped other to achieve theirs. With FMX Racing at the peak of the racing world, there is a lot to be said for bowing out at the peak of your powers… Maynard is one of the rare few who was able to win world titles, not only as an individual athete, but also with his own brand where he shaped and designed. After enjoying such an illustrious career, we caught up with Finian for an interview, which you can read below:

1. You’ve lived a long and illustrious career - could you tell us some of your highlights?

My career has been an incredible journey. I am extremely grateful and appreciative of being able to follow my dreams as a kid and live from my passion for so long. There are many highlights, many amazing memories and experiences often shared with great people in the sport. To name a few I remember well some races in Aruba leading a grand slam 5* course race for the first time, the first 5* slalom win in Pozo, especially the outright all boats absolute world speed records breaking the 11-year Yellow Pages world record, which was standing for a long time. Other main PWA highlights include Turkey 2006, Fuerte 2012 and my final event win/podium in Costa Brava in 2018. 

2. After competing at the highest end of the sport, and being one of the best - can you tell us a little bit about what drove you to originally get into the production side of things…

I moved to Maui in 1991 as a kid. To earn money to get ‘on tour’ I went job hunting at the Pauwela Cannery and started repairing boards to get my start, soon after meeting Jimmy Lewis and began watching him masterfully shape everyday standing in the corner of his iconic shaping room before we went to lunch together. This experience and inspiration changed my life and before long I was fully into board building on every level learning from the best in the world that included respected shapers Phil McGain, Richard Greene and I would like to also mention Dan Bolfing for our time working together. Fast forward to more recent times and it has been an intricate technical involvement with many brands along the way and then my own brand that was a natural progression to get more and more into the production side of things that culminated in being ready to meet the challenge of having my own brand the past 6-years. That journey was 40-years in the making and it’s been a great run.

3. With FMX you have built the pinnacle of board design essentially - how proud are you of that and how difficult is it for you to walkway from it?

I am extremely proud of what has been achieved, technically, visually, in particular because I’ve built it up from ground zero and have worked on and managed the entire operation all sections of the brand since day one until now including designing, shaping and sanding/finishing all the protos personally. All in all it’s a huge amount of work, it must be said. So it is of course difficult to step away, but in saying that I’m also very content and satisfied with the end result of the ‘body of work’.

4. You were competing in the era of Dunkerbeck and Albeau - what do you think of those guys - and how much did they drive you to constantly get better?

When I started Björn was on top, so himself and Anders Bringdal were who I looked up to the most starting out, Antoine’s time came later. Definitely they made me motivated to work hard to get to the top. What do I think of them, both obviously had exceptionally elite abilities on the water, I have massive respect for their careers, and it was both a pleasure and honour to compete for so many years against such great competitors, along with all the other top competitors.

5. As we touched upon earlier, you have managed to be the best in the world sailing individually, but you’ve also managed to create a brand/product that is then the best in the world - how proud are you of that, and how do you rank individual status vs the team (your boards) status?

Good question. To be honest the feelings of the two are a bit different. Achieving success physically hooked into the harness is an absolute adrenaline rush that is hard to describe, especially in a sport like windsurfing where one is often battling harsh natural elements and conditions whilst being so close to the ocean. Watching one’s own designs and shapes achieve success is also a rush in it’s own way, still competing full power, but instead experiencing the success of the team as a whole. To rank them is difficult, both are great, both have provided many superb memories that will always be appreciated and last a life time.

6. If you could use your years of wisdom - what would you say looking back?

Live life to the fullest. Follow your dreams. Appreciate every day we have. Work hard and never give up, even when faced with adversity.

I would like to take the opportunity to thank my family. Without them I couldn’t have followed my dream. I would like to thank the friends with whom I have had many memorable moments, and all the competitors over the years for such great competition. And I would also like to thank all the people I’ve had the pleasure of working with and for in the industry, and of course the PWA World Tour and PWA crew for the many good years. Mahalos.

Thanks Finian, and congrats on a long and illustrious career.  Watch Finian’s career highlights on video here.

 Finian Maynard in Numbers

- 6x World Sailing WSSRC Speed World Records - 500M x 5, Nautical Mile x 1

- 5 x ISA/ISWC Speed World Champion - 1998,2000,2001,2006,2009

- PWA Speed World Champion - 1999

- PWA Slalom Vice-World Champion - 2009

- IFCA Slalom World Champion - 2006

- Rolex World Sailor of the Year Nomination - 2005

- PBA/PWA Debut - 1989 - PBA Aruba Hi-Winds (amateur)  /  1992 - PWA Brighton (pro)

- First PWA Podium -    World Cup - 1993 - Kuantan, Malaysia  /  Grand Slam - 1999 - Pozo, Gran Canaria

- First Grand Slam Race Win - 1997 - Pozo, Gran Canaria

- First Event Win - 1999 - PWA Speed World Cup - Leucate, France  /  Grand Slam - 2006 - Alacati, Turkey

- PWA Race Wins - 30

- PWA Event Podiums - 15

- PWA Slalom Finals -  250

- PWA Event Wins - 5

- PWA World Titles - 1

- Best Season - 2009 - PWA Slalom Vice-World Champion  /  ISWC Speed World Champion  

FM Designer/Tester/Head of R&D (for other brands)

* PWA Race Wins - 62

* PWA Event Wins - 15

* PWA Event Podiums - 34

* PWA World Titles - 4  

FMX Racing

FM Designer/Shaper/Product Architect/Head of R&D/Team Manager/Brand Manager/Owner

* PWA Race Wins - 77

* PWA Event Wins - 11

* PWA Event Podiums - 22

* PWA World Titles - 3