“When I Stand Up, I Want To Kill – Fucking Redlining Like I Want To Ruin The Wave”
Triple Crown winner Finn McGill blends vintage Pancho Sullivan power with a Stab High-worthy air game.
Finn McGill grew up a stock North Shore beach rat alongside Kalani David, Barron Mamiya, Makana Pang, and Noah Beschen—skating, surfing, and later dabbling in motocross. Excelling in all three, big sponsors took note. Nike and Volcom stamped his surfboards, along with his sister, Dax’s. They were sibling prodigies but well-adjusted, raised in a loving family with a beautiful home in the Pupukea Hills, built by his father, Mike. (See: The Argument Against Aggressive Surf Parenting for some unsolicited cautionary wisdom.)
Unlike many child prodigies, McGill actually delivered on his hype. Winning the Pipe Trials at 16 made him the second-youngest to achieve the feat (John Florence got his first shot at the Pipe Masters at 13), Finn earned his first and only CT wildcard in a year when Adam Melling, Davey Cathels, and Kai Otton were still on tour—which now feels as distant as a VHS tape in today’s streaming world.
By 2018, Finn was crowned World Junior Champion, joining a prestigious list of winners including Joel Parkinson, Andy Irons, Gabriel Medina, Jordy Smith, and Ethan Ewing. Though McGill made four QS finals since then, and in 2023, took out the prestigious Vans Triple Crown — the last before Vans pulled the pin— his rise has been anything but linear.
“My goal is still to get on the CT,” he told Stab, “but in the last four years I’ve had bad luck with injuries.” A concussion at Pipe in 2021 took him out for a year. When he came back, he won the Triple Crown but then tore his hip. Two surgeries later, and he’s finally been nursed back to full strength.
Though it feels like Finn has been around forever (especially recently), he’s only 24. Having been in the spotlight since childhood, Finn’s watched the expectations placed on pro surfers evolve for over a decade. His age belies a deep understanding of industry dynamics.
“Josh Moniz and I were just talking about this earlier. It’s a crazy world now. You spend a year filming for a surf movie, saving A-clips, then you post it to YouTube, and it gets 2,000 views. Then you put up a one-session clip at Rockies and it gets 10,000 plays. Your sponsors are stoked. Everybody is happy. So it’s hard to rationalize sitting on clips.”
Brutal truth: sponsors care about metrics, not quality. The qualitative aspects are mostly irrelevant footnotes. When Stab does campaign reports for clients, for instance, it’s impressions, likes, comments, shares. Interestingly, research from Markerly found that as an influencer’s follower count increases, engagement (likes and comments) actually decrease, as they are perceived to be less trustworthy and authentic. You can chew on that more in this peer-reviewed study published by Pub Med – A Comprehensive Overview of Micro-Influencer Marketing: Decoding the Current Landscape, Impacts, and Trends.
Or not.
Anywhose, Finn’s move to Seager — a non-endemic brand run by three 30-year-old surfers — was about betting on something different. It has a Western aesthetic and backs country musicians like Shaboozey and Yellowstone actor Ryan Bingham. Finn was drawn to it by accident — his girlfriend followed one of the founders’ girlfriends. Their first hire was Finn’s old skate camp counselor, who, as a running joke, would constantly ask him when his Bong contract was up.
After his Triple Crown win, Finn had an opportunity to jump ship. “It just fit,” he says. “My mom’s side is from Minnesota and Montana. My dad’s from California. I grew up in Hawaii hunting and fishing. I love country music. Real country, not the pop-country you Aussies probably think of.”
Ouch. Slim Dusty would be punching the air.
“So it made more sense than any surf brand I’d ever been with. And, to be completely honest, I was over it. I was tired of constantly proving myself to these big brands just to get re-signed for less than a McDonald’s worker.”
Finn’s approach to surfing mirrors his approach to life: he wants to compete, but he also wants to have fun. He talks about improvement in a way that sounds more like a skater or snowboarder than a traditional contest surfer. He gets thrilled when he sucks at something, and his list of hobbies and extracurriculars is continually expanding.
“I love golf. I’m shitty at it, but I love it. It sounds kind of douchey saying this, but a lot of pro surfers can surf a wave as good as it can be. In Formula One terms — everyone’s chasing milliseconds and splitting hairs. But when I ride a dirt bike, I can absorb a tip and instantly shave 15 seconds off my lap time. It’s sick.”
Fittingly, Finn grew up across the street from Pancho Sullivan, absorbing that trademark Hawaiian power but also gravitating toward skaterboarding’s technical precision. For the record, Finn still rips on the skatey, but he has to throw pads on due to his dodgy hip. Any more than three stacks and he’s “torched”.
“I always watched Pancho, Sunny Garcia, and Pete Mendia,” he says. “But nowadays I watch Ethan Ewing a lot. He’s so particular and calm and… pretty, as corny as that sounds. It’s a different approach than mine. When I stand up, I’m just fucking redlining, wanting to destroy the wave. But honestly, I mostly watch skate and snowboard videos these days,” he laughs.
Speaking of videos, when injuries sidelined him, Finn started helping out on his production sets with his mom, who works on “badass” campaigns for major brands like Corona and Rivvian. During his industry crash course, Finn spotted a gap in the market — specifically from outdoor brands who want high-end content but don’t have the budget for Hollywood-scale productions. So he and a friend are in the process of launching their own production company, focused on creating authentic content for smaller brands. “We’re building it up now. We’ve already had a bunch of shoots,” he says. “I mean, it helps that I’m basically producing surf edits every week already.”
For now, Finn’s home on the North Shore until March, then off to Tahiti for the last regional QS event. If all goes well, he’ll be on the Challenger Series in May and starting Pipe in a CT jersey come 2026. But first, he’s trying to win Stab Highway.
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