Finian interview on PWA video…
… and quick chat with Finian on PWA website…
PWA : How has your year been thus far?
Finian Maynard : “It’s been pretty horrific, I’ve had a lot of injuries. I had bad injuries in Reggio Calabria and Costa Brava. In reality I should have probably gone home in Costa Brava but I made the decision to try and compete, which didn’t really work out. In Korea I suffered some very unlucky gear breakages which certainly hasn’t helped matters. However for the first time this season I’m feeling strong and healthy, and I’ve also managed to fit in a lot of training before the event and I’m feeling pretty quick, so we’ll see what happens.”
PWA : When the wind kicks in are you feeling confident? And what sort of conditions do you think we can expect?
Finian Maynard : “In the sixteen or seventeen years that I have been here I don’t think I’ve ever seen two glassy days in a row, but for sure when the wind arrives I am feeling confident. If the wind comes in from the North East, then I think we’ll have winds ranging from 15-25 knots. If the wind is dead offshore from the North, then we can expect anything with the wind topping out at about 45 knots. It’s really hard to predict at the moment though because of the heat.”
PWA : Which of the two wind strengths would you prefer, medium or strong?
Finian Maynard : “At this point I don’t mind either one. It’s just great to be healthy again and I feel excited to race.”
PWA : You recently started your own sails company, Avanti, how is that going?
Finian Maynard : “We’ve had a positive reaction so far, we have brought new technology to the market with our masts and sails. The reaction to the sails thus far is that they are light, stable and offering outstanding performance for the regular customers. I have opened the company with Dan Kaseler who is the ex Naish and Gaastra designer and it’s going really well. It’s obviously been a difficult economic time to launch our brand into, what with the euro zone crisis making things a little more challenging than expected but we expect great things from the year 2013 and beyond, we’re really looking forward to the future.”
PWA : Top five for the competition?
Finian Maynard : “I’m just going to say that I think that it will be the usual suspects. Fuerteventura is somewhere that experience really counts for a lot. It’s a really fast location so it’s usually the guys who have the experience with the speed that rise to the front of the fleet. We’ll just have to see what happens.”