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Finian Maynard

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Finian Maynard (born 22 November 1974 in Dublin, Ireland) is a four time speed windsurfing world champion (1998 until 2001) and holds the current speed world record for sailing vessels.

He went to the British Virgin Islands (hence his sail number KV11 resp. BVI11) with his parents at the age of 5. When he was 7, he tried windsurfing for the first time and at the age of 15, he came 13th at the US Open at Corpus Christi, Texas. His career choice had been made.

Finian Maynard is 190 cm (6ft3in) tall and weighs 117 kg (258lbs). Thus his body is able to counterbalance the pressure of wind in his sail at high wind speeds. On 13 November 2004 he established a new speed world record for sailing vessels by reaching 46.82 knots in the "French Trench" (or "le canal", as the French call it) near Saintes Maries de la Mer. It had been the first time for 11 years that this record was not held by a sailing boat but by a windsurfer. He improved his record a half year later, reaching 48.7 knots. Both records were acknowledged by the World Sailing Speed Record Council.