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KING KAI: MARK OF A CHAMPION

With numerous titles to his name in surfing, a vice-world champion title in kitesurfing, and an incredible 8 world titles in SUP, Kai Lenny is the undisputed most all-round surf sport athlete on the planet, as well as a big wave legend and crazy talented windsurfer and foiler. Kai gives us an insight into his life and success, and shaper Keith Teboul shares what it’s like to shape boards for such an amazing athlete!

Words – Kai Lenny, Keith Teboul // Photos – Fish Bowl Diaries, John Carter / pwaworldtour.com

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Be my best

One of the biggest motivations I have in doing these watersports isn’t only about having fun, but also improving, learning and evolving. I like putting pressure on myself by riding a big wave or competing. Always stepping outside my comfort zone is where I find myself riding at my best.

Defining moment

There have been so many, 13 big wave seasons ago it was taking that leap of faith and paddling into a Jaws wave for the first time. After that I went through a rabbit hole of adventures riding big waves that most will never experience. Recently it has been having my twin girls who showed me a love I could have never imagined. I’ve become much more focused because of them.

Inspiration

There are so many athletes that inspire me, especially since I draw from athletes across all sports and not just watersports. When I was growing up it was Robby Naish. Now I look to my peers, as well as the best in other sports and I become inspired to look inward and carve my own path forward.

Decisions

I feel like I’ve made all the right decisions to get to where I am today. Hindsight is 20/20 and of course there are things I would adjust along the way. With what I know now, I would be able to fast track everything with ease. But when you’re a kid you just have to learn and experience the bumps in the road. As much as people give you advice, it never is cemented quite like learning it on your own.

Highs and lows

Highs have been winning 8 world championships in SUP, winning many big wave awards and being relevant and innovative across different watersports. There is much more, but I tend to always get really excited about my next goal and once I accomplish the one I was just working on, I move on to the next.

Lows are not being at the level I want to be, that’s every day. It is however the fuel for the fire within that keeps me motivated.

Motivational quotes

Here’s one my dad always told me when I would get nervous before competition:

“The hard work is done, just pull the arrow back and let it fly.”
Life balance

2022 was a huge year for me personally. I got married and had twin baby girls. I didn’t realize how stabilizing it is to have my own family. I wouldn’t be where I am today without my parents and brother as well. Before it was so hard to be on land especially when I had to take rest days. Now the best wave of my day is coming home to my girls.

Motivation

My motivation is the drive to improve, create and be innovative. Always pushing the needle forward. When I was a grom, I always wanted to be a world champion athlete / competitor, an inventor, and filmmaker. I’m fortunate I get to do all those things.

Stress

To deal with stress I’ve always looked inward, and that’s something my dad has taught me since I was a really young boy. In my experience, it’s best to let all those nerves come flushing in and sometimes allow yourself to go to rock-bottom, because there’s only one way to go, which is back up. Relying on your training, what you’ve done and keeping an open mind.

Pressure

My best performances happen when I’m under pressure or in a rare scenario. It’s almost like my subconscious takes over and I’m just watching a movie. There have been times where I wonder if I can do something twice because I don’t necessarily know how I pulled it off.
Strengths

My strength as an athlete is being very persistent, not giving up and always finding a way forward. Sometimes I overanalyse things and that can hold me back. There has to be a balance between having a plan and letting things come off the cuff. My identity as an athlete is fused with who I am off the water, but that’s just because it is and has been my life forever. Now that I have kids there’s a separation between the two, which I think is much healthier then just being 100 per cent in athlete mode.

Admiration

There are so many insane sailors at the moment. I take major inspiration from the racers on foils, to the pop the freestylers are getting. Of course my all time favourite discipline is wave sailing; I think at the moment ‘Brawzinho’ (Marcilio Browne) is the most polished and complete sailor. I like how Bernd (Roediger) sails so loose and unpredictable; his style is so nonchalant. And then there’s Ricardo (Campello), he’s always full send!

Downtime

Nowadays my downtime is spending time with my daughters, reading and turning the phone off. For 99% of the time my mind is truly invested in what I love to do which is ride waves and perform at these sports. But it’s good to give the mind a break, otherwise I think you could lose your spark.

Winning or money?

I think winning is more important, but of course you need enough money to pull it all off and make it happen, but at the end of the day my mental state is better after knowing I did whatever I could to achieve my goal.

Power foods

Four eggs, avocado toast, tortillas and salsa in the morning, burritos at lunch and venison pasta at night is my favourite food lineup. As for snacks, dried mango or pineapple, macadamia nuts, bananas and apples. Those are my favourite in-between meals.

Talent or hard work?

My talent, I learned from my parents who instilled in me hard work and dedication. That’s why I’m able to do what I do and achieve all that I have. If it seems like everything comes easy to me it really doesn’t, but I think doing multiple sports has a skill crossover that allows me to fast track certain things.

Training

On the water I’ll do up to 40 hours training per week. It really depends on the conditions. I don’t love being on land, I really try to keep my training on the water, but I’ll still go to the gym 5 times a week and do other cross training sports like biking and skateboarding, etc.

‘Rocky’ moment

That moment came a few times, most recently when the biggest day of the year arrived at Jaws in January 2021. When you want something so badly and you’re willing to do whatever it takes, a lot of times it doesn’t work out. And that was a lesson I learned that day. After having a shocker in the lineup, losing my jet ski on the rocks and the entire cliff laughing at my demise, I looked up to the sky and asked did I do something wrong or am I being tested? And a gut feeling came over me, leaving me confident that, yes, I was being tested. I ended up going back out and getting two of the biggest and best barrels I’ve ever had out there.

Memorable

I have had so many memorable sessions; but there’s usually one crazy day that challenges me immensely out at Jaws once a year. I’m coming into my 14th season out there and there is still so much to learn. One of my most memorable big wave sessions was when they cancelled the Jaws Challenge surfing competition because the waves got too big and I ended up surfing 70-foot jaws by myself for 6 hours.

My most recent worst wipeout was at Nazaré where I got caught inside by four 60-foot waves and filmed it on my GoPro. Why did I do that? Because the cameraman never dies ha ha!
Dream windsurfing event

My dream event could be at massive Jaws. I would ride a 4.2 and 80-litre board. Being in a heat with Jason Polakow out there would be insane.

Travel tales

Usually everything goes pretty smooth and there’s not a whole lot to report on. Still one trip that tossed me into the world of travel was when I was 15 and I flew from Hawaii to the Canary Islands by myself. Back then there wasn’t any Internet in the airports and I had no idea what I was doing. So I had to think fast and be smart as I had to drag a ton of windsurf gear around as well.

Keith Teboul – “Windsurf boards for Kai are kind of all over the place in that I shape him small wave boards, mid range wave boards and big wave guns.
The shapes are inspired from our surfing and surfboard shapes with some added windsurf features. In general shorter lengths, a bit narrower noses, wide points back with more curve through the stances, higher entries and lower tail rockers.
We work on new surfboards shapes often and this usually always goes into the windsurf shapes as well.
Another key element is working with Pio from MFC on fins…this is a critical part of the process and we are working to make boards and fins that allow a more surfy approach to wave sailing.
So apart from windsurfing I work on foil, kite, SUP and surf designs for Kai, from small wave to big wave guns and tow boards and then any crazy ideas Kai might have too.
In general the basic concepts of the boards can filter into production boards in the sense that we work on speed or turns or more drive…these general concepts and how we get there completely get put into the production process. Over the years you learn to make sure the boards are accessible and yet have a spark that comes from all the R&D with Kai and the team.

Working with Kai is amazing and very challenging. He has so many ideas and is so sensitive to small changes. I think what works for him is the fact that I really can make boards quickly and our constructions are strong and light throughout the different board styles. He can come to me asking for something and I’ll throw my ideas into how to get there, then we have a chat and a design session in front of the computer and fire away. He is also really good at testing other boards and giving me feedback on what is working and what isn’t. I do feel a lot of pressure to keep up, but feel like he is getting a great one-stop shop for all his board needs. What we do in the guns and foil boards for him is by far the most complicated and well built shapes there are. And the feedback from this realm….well basically all his realms, is by far the best I’ve ever had. We still go down the wrong direction many times, but it just reinforces the design we have already worked on and gets us back on the right track. For me working with Kai has been such a learning experience. He pushes me beyond anyone because he brings new ideas and knowledge from testing and is always looking for more performance. I think in return I can deliver all the different tools he needs to get to where he wants to go. It’s a win-win for both of us.”