Kai Lenny is someone who seems to master all sporting challenges with ease and makes them look as simple as cycling with training wheels. However, he recently learnt that the ocean is no playground. He suffered a serious head injury in a fall on his SUP at the legendary Pipeline spot.
The accident in Pipeline
"I was surfing a wave at the famous Pipeline spot on Ohau's North Shore. During the backdoor shootout competition, I slipped off my SUP board and fell on my side. I don't remember much except being put on a chair by the lifeguards on the beach a few minutes later. After watching the footage of the ride, I think I was initially sucked up by the wave, and then as I plummeted down from the top like a waterfall, it pushed me down to the reef after impact where I hit my head on a sandstone. I somehow managed to get myself to shore, even though I can't remember it.
My helmet has a crack on the left side, so I really feel like it saved my life or saved me a year of endless pain. It was by far the worst injury I've ever had. I was severely cognitively impaired. I suffered a severe concussion and had slight bleeding from my left ear. Everything should be fine, I just need some time. It was the very first time I wore a helmet at Pipeline."
Family
"It was incredible to become a father of twins. There's nothing better than having children. It's like a rebirth - you grow up with them again. I've learnt so much since we've had the kids. I probably spend a little less time on the water because I naturally spend more time with my family, hanging out and playing. I feel like I've gotten better at windsurfing, surfing and all my other water sports in general since I've been on the water a little bit less.
I've watched pretty much every sunrise since the children were born!"
I think my problem used to be that I surfed so much that I exhausted myself too much on the water. I was in the water all day and often felt exhausted. I didn't have much energy left for the next day. I knew no end, I couldn't sit still. The children made sure that I was rested enough so that I could really push myself in the water. In a way, that was a blessing. I'm now tired in a different way: since the children were born, so for over a year and a half, I've watched pretty much every sunrise!"
Superstar status in water sports
"Life has moved on in many ways over the last few years, but I still feel like the same kid who has always loved riding the wind and waves. Sometimes my attention is pulled away from the water because I have other sponsorship commitments or the like to fulfil. However, I feel very blessed to have this incredible support to be able to live this lifestyle and achieve my goals that I've had since I first got on the water. Windsurfing is still one of, if not the most dynamic form of windsurfing and surfing. I will never give it up and I just want to spend more time in great conditions.
Windsurfing is still one of, if not the most dynamic form of windsurfing and surfing."
It pains me to see windsurfing losing professionalism in terms of support for pro windsurfers. If I can manage to shine a light on how great this sport is, then maybe at some point there will be more support for the amazing windsurfing athletes."
Kai Lenny about his material
"When developing my equipment, I drew heavily from my surfboards (here surfing = surfing; editor's note.) were my inspiration. I want to have boards that allow me to ride the wave as well as possible and at the same time jump the powerful manoeuvres that windsurfing is so famous for. My boards are completely different - no windsurfer rides anything like them. The boards are literally an enlarged, giant surfboard. I even have the exact same fins that I go surfing with under my windsurf boards. I just had the US boxes made by MFC, there's no other difference between the fins. Gosh, they work so well! However, it was a lot of testing to adjust them and find the right rocker line.
My boards are completely different - no windsurfer rides anything comparable."
Brawzinho's boards, for example, couldn't be more different to mine in terms of design: Where the widest point of the board is, how the rocker runs, the type of bottom contour he uses and his fins, it's all completely different. But then you watch him windsurf and he's the world champion! He's incredibly good at what he does. He's just world class. I think our boards are all about personal preference to a certain extent. My approach to windsurfing is very different to his. Nevertheless, we both really just try to carve up waves as best we can."
Inspiration from Jason Polakow
"My boards are designed for good waves. I got the inspiration for this when I was watching the Cabo Verde contest. I was watching and there was little wind and the waves were small. I tried to analyse how the other riders' boards worked. I came to the conclusion that windsurf boards simply lack the ability to use the thrust of the wave to develop propulsion instead of relying on the sail. When the wind is so weak, you can't rely on the sail alone. Most windsurf boards are great, but they don't have the ability to charge through pure thrust of the wave like a surfboard.
When I watch the windsurfers in Pozo riding the waves, it's borderline in my eyes."
After seeing this competition, I started designing boards with my shaper Keith Teboul. I wanted to transfer my surfing style to wave windsurfing. I think if I went back to Pozo and tried to get good there, I would probably use the same boards. When I watch the windsurfers in Pozo on Gran Canaria riding the waves, it's borderline in my eyes. It's not actually riding waves. It's just a kind of freestyle in the waves. It's more of a long transition with the outhaul ahead to the lip than a bottom turn. That's down to the conditions and the equipment. I've always thought that you could incorporate a bit more of a surfing influence.
Speaking of set-up: my sails are also completely different to Brawzinho's. You can't say that one is better than the other. But what I personally like is completely different. Brawzinho's equipment is designed to perform as well as possible in different conditions and to win the world title with it. I would say my equipment, on the other hand, is designed to surf the best waves as best I can. I'm more influenced by surfing through and through. The luff curve of my sails is much straighter. The centre of effort is much further forward and so they have very little pressure on the back hand. You can feel the influence of Jason Polakow in my sails. I got a lot of inspiration from him. Working with Goya, with the combination of sail and board, feels like a dream for me. Windsurfing is already one of the most beautiful sports, and now I enjoy it even more because it's simply an extension of my surfing. We are simply making the equipment better and better. I think my boards are going to get a lot better now after the Aloha Classic because I've learnt a lot and Keith and everyone at Goya and Quatro are motivated to keep developing them."
Kai Lenny on shaper Keith Teboul
"Keith (Shaper at Quatro and Goya on Maui, editor's note.) is the kind of shaper I can come to with an absolutely crazy idea - he would always be willing to try it out. He doesn't question my ideas because I really think my stuff through and know where there's potential. I don't know exactly which direction to go in, but I'm either trying to reinvent windsurfing or build equipment that increases my enthusiasm for the sport even more. I think that Kauli Seadi, when he won his world titles, was also very influenced by the style of the surfers. The guys were already working hard on that style together, but my windsurf boards are now much closer to the shape of a pure surfer. I don't know if Keith was sure if my idea would really work, because it was a pretty extreme idea to change a windsurf board so drastically, as well as the fins. But we made it work. Now we are starting to see and utilise the real benefits. I think my equipment will be even better in a few years because Keith is such a master at shaping."
The style of Kai Lenny
"When I go out on the water with my best older windsurf boards, which are similar to those of the other windsurfers, it feels safe and controlled, but it's very difficult to ride vertically up to the lip of the wave and back down again without losing speed. If you look at my wave rides during the Aloha Classic, of course the sail is there to help me, but all my turns I do with my fins and my rail. There's no other equipment I could windsurf with like that. In the perfect world, the ultimate goal is to really ride the wave straight up and back down at twelve o'clock. Then when I see a suitable breaking section of the wave, I'll do a fat move like a high goiter or a wave 360... or even a long, straight aerial. I don't just want to maintain the tradition of surfing and only do classic carves - I want to combine old and new school.
I want to combine old and new school."
Normally in Maui, when we have strong trade winds, I ride an 80 litre board, the length is 223 centimetres, it has more nose rocker and less tail rocker, with a single to double concave and a V in the tail. On the Aloha Classic I rode 88 litres because the wind was weaker than usual. Every board Keith builds for me is a little more advanced. The 88 litre is honestly the best board he has ever built me for windsurfing. We already have a good idea of how we can make it even better. Just based on what we've learnt from this competition. That's the beauty of competitions. I wish we had more pure wave events in windsurfing. Every time you compete you definitely learn something and you can take that into your development. Keith and everyone at Quatro and Goya are so motivated to develop better equipment that makes windsurfing even more fun than it already is.
For most of my career, especially in competitive windsurfing, everything I've ridden has been standard equipment. But now I really enjoy developing and using completely customised equipment that is totally unique to what I personally want to achieve in windsurfing. I don't know if anyone else would really like my equipment. That would be interesting to know. Levi Siver is the only person who has actually got on my board. The board was too small for him because it was my 80-litre board. He normally rides an 88-litre. It would be cool to see what the guys could do on my boards, but there's also a part of me that doesn't want anyone else to try it because I think they're way too good already. I think I have an advantage with my boards."
Aloha Classic
"The Aloha Classic is one of the events I look forward to the most every year. Especially because you get out on the water with the best windsurfers in the world. The standard is so high that it gets harder to win every year. Everyone here is so cool. We are all friends on land, but on the water we are fierce competitors. I like that. It's nice that everyone is still so cool to each other. We give each other a hard time on the water in the heat because we want to win, but that doesn't mean you can't hang out together afterwards. I feel kind of bad because Ricardo (Campello, editor's note.) was fighting for the world title and I had to compete against him. At the end of the day, I also wanted to win the Aloha Classic. That's a competition. That's the art of the sport. You have to be able to compete against any rider and you have to be able to beat them. Ricardo had the advantage over me in terms of his tricks and manoeuvres, but my advantage was the fact that Ho'okipa is my home spot and I think I could handle the light wind a bit better than Ricardo. I'm not as big as him. I didn't have any pressure, whereas Ricardo had the title fight on his shoulders. The only pressure I had was the competition and my own personal challenge. Ricardo has been fighting for the world title for many years and once again had it within his grasp, so I felt really sorry for him."
Scott Sanchez, the master trainer
"I train with Scott about five days a week in the gym. We talk all the time and he has become an integral part of my big wave team. He has ridden all the Sea Doo Hawaii jetskis. He was instrumental in getting me to switch from my old jetskis to the new Sea Doos. He also helped Ricardo with his title chase this year. That was really cool. I'm lucky to always have a good coach in my corner. At the end of the day, I don't want to leave any stone unturned. When you have someone you can implement your ideas with and who sees things you can easily change, that's very important. A lot of the biggest changes are quite easy to make, you just have to see them. You have to be willing to change your approach physically and mentally: how you train, what equipment you use, how you approach your heats and little things like that - it's a special mindset."
Competitions
"As far as competitions are concerned, I'm currently blissfully happy. The only thing I find a shame is that the competitions aren't as big as they were when I was younger. When I was a kid, the events all seemed huge. Now there are very few big wave events. There are very few pure wave events in windsurfing. If I really wanted to, I could go out and ride big or perfect waves on my own. But I would like to take part in more competitions, that's for sure. And when my children are a bit older, maybe we can travel together. When it comes to windsurfing, for example, I have the feeling that I absolutely have to go to Cloudbreak next year! I also have to go to Peru and visit these perfect windsurfing spots. I love competitions. I actually really like moving from event to event, when everything happens in one go. That's how you get into the swing of things. At the moment I'm only doing the Aloha Classic in windsurfing, which is great fun and spurs me on, but it's always such a long time until the next one. It feels like another life when the next competition comes around."
Travelling
"Even after Covid I travelled a lot, but when you have a family, especially a young family where the children are less than two years old, it's really important to be at home with them. It's very difficult to travel with them as much as I used to.
At this time in my life, it is very important to be at home with my family."
However, big wave missions are very simple: if I know they're breaking, I usually travel there spontaneously, it runs for 48 hours and then I'm back home. The longest time I've spent in Nazare in recent years was a day and a half. I land, surf for a day and a half and when I'm through, I fly home the same evening. When the children get older and I can travel with them, we will be travelling more and longer again. But right now, at this time of my life, it's very important to be at home with my family. Fortunately, the place where I live here in Hawaii is very compatible with my job. But I think about travelling all the time. I want to catch epic conditions and do unrivalled windsurfing missions. I also want to do more strike missions in the big wave area. I think it will be much easier this year when the girls turn two."
Jaws
"When Jaws is really good and the wave is throwing big tubes, I always want to ride the waves without a sail. I always have my windsurfing equipment with me, but I love surfing in the tube. When windsurfing in Jaws, it's difficult to catch any waves at all because it gets so crowded out there on good days.
Most windsurfers don't understand the code of behaviour among surfers."
Most windsurfers then just go after everything that comes along - they don't understand the code of behaviour among surfers. I've got used to this behaviour in the meantime. Even if I'm windsurfing in Ho'okipa and someone has been waiting a long time for a wave, I don't just surf past them, a bit further out, and go for the wave. If the person is closer to the peak and has been waiting, I let them take the wave. But the windsurfers in Jaws do what they want in the line-up. I'm worried that they'll get caught by my safety crew at some point - they're all burly Hawaiians. I want to be able to windsurf in Jaws in the future. I wanted to go windsurfing there again a few weeks ago, but the wave was pretty small. Brawzinho caught a good time slot that day. But this year I will definitely be windsurfing at Jaws more often. I have a decommissioned coastguard boat that I now use as a base when I'm out there. It's really fast, faster than our jet skis. It has an enclosed cabin with sprung seats. I have all my equipment on it. I always have five different pieces of water sports equipment with me."
