ENSIS Youngster Finlay Chandler

Name: Finlay Chandler
Day of Birth: 29 June 2009, 13 years old
Homespot: I live in Weymouth on the South Coast of England. Overcombe beach for waves, Portland Harbour for freestyle, slalom and speed runs!

How long have you been winging for and what got you into it?
I’ve been into winging for about 8 months now and I love it. I got into windsurfing last summer but immediately saw the local shredders winging around and knew I needed to get on the foils. I started with a pump foil setup then in the early spring I got my own winging kit. Since then every time there is any kind of breeze, after school or weekends, I’m out there!!!

Which discipline is your favourite? Slalom, Wave, Freestyle?
I’m loving boosting off big ramps, so my favourite discipline has got to be wave. The autumn swells have just arrived here, you just can’t beat the thrill of jumping or carving huge wrap-around turns on open faces at 1,000mph…

Best result to date? Where was it? How did you find it?
Winning 1st overall in the UK Slalom tour event at our local spot was just awesome. 8 bullets is going to be a hard one for me to beat!

Ambitions? Where would you like to go with the sport?
Competing on the GWA Youth tour and hanging with world class shredders from all over the globe has been really inspiring. Being around that much speed, boost and stoke is insane!

I’m loving having a World Ranking but mostly I enjoy the vibe around wingers at the beach. Making new friends, hitting new spots and being way, way better than my dad is where it is at for me!

What do you say to your school mates that don’t wing, do they understand it?
They don’t understand it at all. No matter how many times I try to explain the foil lifting and the power of the wing they still look at me with confused faces . Asking me questions like “so the kite makes you fly and how does the metal make the board go up….?”
I’m hoping this summer more of them will get out there with me, it’s such an easy sport to learn if you really want it!