Surfing
Kai Lenny takes us backstage — and on the back of his Jet Ski — for an intimate look at what it takes to achieve greatness in Red Bull’s new series "Life of Kai," presented by TAG Heuer.
As devoted viewers, it’s often easy to assume our heroes are, well…super. So exceptionally talented, fearless and elite in their specific disciplines or craft that they verge into the super-human category. But the thing is, our Jordan’s, our James’, our Williams’ are human. Their utter devotion, passion, blood, sweat, and tears are precisely the human qualities that brought them to their levels.
Born and raised on the island of Maui, Kai Lenny (Kai’s name literally means ocean in Hawaiian) is considered to be one of the greatest watermen on earth. A champion big wave surfer (and 8X world champion SUP surfer) with expertise in kitesurfing, windsurfing, paddleboarding, foiling — the list goes on — Kai’s mastered wave riding of every kind, a modern icon of ocean sports.
But in "Life of Kai," Red Bull’s brand new series presented by TAG Heuer, viewers get a profoundly intimate glimpse of what it takes the greatest waterman on earth to achieve such greatness. Sure, he’s got a GoPro with him so you can see what it’s like when a 70-foot tall wall of whitewater topples toward him before that first breathe…but in Life of Kai, you’ll also see what it takes to get — and survive — such an ordeal. Back from a swell in Tahiti (after another swell in Portugal), we caught up with Kai from his home in Maui to pick his brain about this amazing new show that premieres on November 18.
Red Bull: Tell us about “Life of Kai.” How did this all come about?
Kai Lenny: So, the “Life of Kai” series is meant to be an honest look at what it's like to be me. It’s going to give people a deeper perspective of what it takes to get those amazing moments that everyone sees by the end of a swell or competition. I sometimes feel like maybe people might paint me or other big wave riders as being “super-human,” or something. But I think this series makes it pretty clear that the reason why I'm doing what I'm doing is because I've worked really hard towards it. I'm just another human being, but this is what it looks like to really push yourself as hard as you possibly can your entire life to get to this point. At the same time, beyond taking people inside that world, I wanted to show what kind of innovations are being brought forward to achieve some of these goals. Also, the experiences that go along with these moments with my friends and people who inspire me and who are oftentimes, better than me, but help bring me to that level, too.
Awesome. Yeah, you're absolutely right when you say that sometimes people look at you and other men and women in your league like superhuman action heroes with no fear…but how do you deal with fear? Do you get scared in the situations we’ll see in “Life of Kai”?
The thing is, a lot of these situations, I've been able to overcome through, basically, having the experience. That's always drawn me to big waves. Anything that is challenging is about overcoming the fear of the unknown. Once you do that, you're able to truly focus on high performance surfing, high-performance riding. For me, the reason why I'm able to challenge myself in conditions that people think are impossible is because I've taken small baby steps to get there. It didn't happen overnight; I've spent every waking moment just trying to get to that point. This series shows that if you really want to dedicate anything in your life to 100% — you can achieve it. For example, the stuff I've been able to do the last year, I would have thought was impossible for me to do three years ago.
Wow. You mentioned “innovation,” which is something that’s seemed to be an obsession of yours. What are some of the innovations or progressions might we expect to see in “Life of Kai?”
In the “Life of Kai,” I think you're going to see a progression of me as a human being from the beginning to the end of the show. There's definitely a transition where in the beginning, I think I cultivated a lot of pressure from years of wanting to achieve something — but then having to go back to the drawing board. I realized that nothing can be forced. All we can do is what's in front of us. So, I think you’ll notice more of a human growth from me from the beginning to the end. I really do feel like, in just the last year, I'm a completely different person. I might've matured a little bit, [laughs] which took a long time coming, emotionally and mentally. At the beginning, I think I'm more serious and hyper-focused and emotional about my pursuit in big waves. Then by the end, everything I was trying to do as a hyper-focused person, I achieved from just letting go and having fun.
Amazing. So, where did “Life of Kai” take you around the world, location-wise?
We start off here in Hawaii with my family. It’s me, trying to prepare for the big wave season and running into a hiccup with an injury, and then immediately trying to recover in time, so I can try to win the Jaws event that I've so badly wanted to win over the years… but not quite succeeding in that. Then, we enter the second half where I have this goal and this quest to just ride the best I could possibly ride in big waves. We head to Nazaré, Portugal and that's where I started experimenting with my foils. I'm also trying to get on the same level as my tow partner, Lucas Chumbo Chianca. There's a whole adventure of going there.
From cuts of the series, it seems like you've got a super gnarly training routine. Can you walk us through what that looks like during your week, when you're actually at home?
Out of the water, I go and do aerobic and anaerobic training, and weight lifting three times a week. Then, two times a week, I do activation — trying to open my body back up from being tight, after all my ocean-time. So, that's five days in the gym. Then three times a week I get worked on. All of this has evolved to a certain level because I guess I want to try to pull the maximum performance out of my body. The only way to do that is to basically step up to the highest level of training. But because it's my job, I'm able to do that. Then on the water, it's doing as many sports as I can in one day, but doing it with intention and with focus. So, between waking up in the morning and going surfing, working on my small wave surfing, it benefits my big wave riding, because in small waves you have to have quick-twitch muscles and you have to quickly adapt to a wave that is moving. Then, I couple that with foiling. I either do a downwind foil run if it's windy, and ride open ocean swells for at least 10 miles. Or, I might do a full session where I pump about 10 miles in the waves, catching a bunch of waves and doing tricks with my foil.
Then, as the wind progresses, the idea is to go wind surfing and harness the power of the land and the speed of a board. Understanding how to turn a big board going really fast and how to harness the power of the elements around me. If I can kitesurf, I’ll do that, too, because I can have amazing air-awareness and be 50 feet in the air and be comfortable. That all helps me when I make it into big wave riding. But if I'm completely fatigued by the end of the day, I love to take out my standup paddleboard, because I'm able to paddle and catch a bunch of waves, and it's great training, moving a little bit bigger board around. Also, outside of just training on the water, if I'm on land, one to two times a week I go to the pool for breath-hold training. Lifting weights in the water or getting the heart rate extremely high and then doing breath-holding work in order to basically teach the mind to be settled when it wants to just gasp for air.
Beyond physical training, the most important things which I don't get enough of, is rest. But even in my resting period, when I'm trying to not actually be physically active, I am working on equipment and technology with my friends and sponsors so that they can help me get to the next level. I try to lift the technology as high as I can, while trying to bring human performance to that technology.
And nutrition wise, are we going to still see you crushing Taco Bell bean burritos in “Life of Kai”? That’s kind of your thing, right?
[laughs] Without a doubt. They're awesome, and I absolutely love them. But a majority of what I'm eating is extremely healthy and comes from a sustainable place too, here on Maui. I've always been able to have very healthy foods around because of my parents. But eating healthy can be difficult when you’re traveling. At the same time, in my experience, eating is more important than not eating, while on the road, just because there isn’t the healthiest of options around.
Right. Lastly, what are your specific goals for this winter over the next few months?
My goals are to just keep on getting better and going bigger and doing things that I have never done before. Stuff that I've had in the pipeline. What you're going to see through the series of “Life of Kai,” is really how all that’s come into the play by the last episode. I can’t say too much to spoil it…but the future looks exciting.
"Life of Kai" Episodes 1 and 2 Synopsis
“What’s the goal? The goal is to be the best big wave rider on the planet, bar-none,” says Hawaiian waterman, Kai Lenny, plainly in the opening episode of the “Life of Kai,” series.
A bold claim indeed, but the thing is: Kai means it. With every bone, fiber and being in his body — this feat is what he lives for.
So begins an epic and intimate look at what that kind of drive and focus for one of the greatest watermen and cross-over ocean athletes the world has ever known takes, a camera crew embedding with Kai for four months over the 2019-2020 winter. Following him through high performance training, Code Red swells in Hawaii, and through World Surf League Big Wave Tour events at Jaws, Maui and Nazaré, Portugal, Episode 1 of this wild ride begins in Maui at the cusp of The Cbdmd Jaws Big Wave Championships. The gnarliest big wave event in the world, Kai’s come close to winning it over the last 5 years, but ultimate victory has evaded him.
“I’ve always loved competition and I’ve always loved big wave riding and both of those events were born on Maui,” says Kai. “The best moment is when you’re coming around the corner and you can see plumes of whitewater spray going 150 feet in the air, you start seeing boats and jet skis in the water and you realize: Wow, it’s ON. That’s the moment where I get the most excited, scared, everything all at once, like, these emotions start flooding in.”
But even getting to that point where the contest is on, Kai’s emotions running wild, clearly wasn’t easy. Along the way, Kai severed his hand in a gruesome jet ski accident, just weeks prior, possibly ruining his chances of even entering…let alone using his hand correctly again.
By the end of Episode 1, however, Kai was healed and hurling himself over ledges in the first heat of the Jaws Big Wave event.
“If there’s one event I’d like to win more than anything in the world, it’s this Jaws event,” says Kai, in the opening minutes of Episode 2. “It’d mean the whole world to me…”
Of course, preparation for an event like Jaws isn’t a cakewalk either, and in the second episode of “Life of Kai,” we flashback to the intense Red Bull High Performance Big Wave Camp for a look at what it’s like when your life is on the line…in a contest watched live, by millions around the world.
“Surfing big waves is dangerous, and that’s partly why it’s so exhilarating for us,” says former Jaws Big Wave Championship event winner, Ian Walsh. “But inevitably, bad things are going to happen, so the better you can prepare for those bad situations, the better you can neutralize them when they do happen.”
Lucky (and unlucky) for Kai, while he advanced with flying colors through heats into the final of the Jaws Big Wave Championships, the worst “bad thing,” to happen to him was not clinching the win, again.
Regardless, the behemoth that is the tow-in event at Nazaré, Portugal beckons, and Kai’s luck just might be about to change.
"Life of Kai" Episode 3 Synopsis
Traveling around the world — quickly, at least — isn’t actually good for you. In fact, it’s exhausting. Quality sleep can be hard to come by. Quality food in an airport — even harder. It’s many, many hours of sitting in cramped places, rushing through terminals to make connections.
Of course, big waves don’t just wait for you to show up; you have to chase down those days, even when you’re on the other side of the globe. And Kai Lenny being Kai Lenny…he’s just not easily discouraged or downtrodden.
“When you’re searching for surf and your quest is to be the best you can possibly be — which is mine — this is what it’s all about,” says Kai, merrily. “I’m so amped.”
Thus, Kai Lenny, and his Red Bull teammate/tow partner Lucas “Chumbo” Chianca arrive at the most terrifying big wave on planet earth (after traveling around said-planet to get there: Nazare, Portugal. There, Kai and Lucas will do a few sessions to acquaint themselves with the notorious wave before two separate big wave tow-surfing events go down within the following week. Kai actually wants to foil Nazare once it’s big, perhaps a feat only he could accomplish.
“The best thing about being a tow partner with Lucas is that he is AS motivated as I am,” says Kai. “When I’m towing him in on the wave of the day, I know he not going to try and outrun it, he’s going to try and RIP the hell out of it. And that’s so exciting to me.”
“But the potential of flying 60mph on a foil above the water on a giant wave, it’s pretty scary, but what a ride that’ll be.”
Of course, it’s not like Kai hasn’t trained for these moments. Flashback to 4 weeks ago when Kai and Ian Walsh, among others, ran exercises in Red Bull’s Big Wave Performance Camp on Maui.
Indeed, Kai is ready for whatever the ocean throws at him, and in the coming days, we’ll discover what kind of arm the ocean really has out at Nazare…
