ICNX
Kai Lenny

Big Wave Surfing / Waterman · United States of America

@kai_lenny

Kai
Lenny

World Record
1World Record
World Nr. 1
3World Nr. 1
World Champion
1World Champion
2Title
Never Been Done
2Never Been Done
1Legend
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Photo: Foto: Founzy / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0

He never picked one board. He redrew what is rideable on all of them — Jaws and Nazaré, on a hydrofoil.

About Kai

Kai Lenny grew up on Maui's north shore and was a Red Bull athlete at thirteen. Rather than specialise he became his generation's defining waterman — SUP, windsurfing, kitesurfing, tow-in big-wave riding and hydrofoiling. His reputation rests on redrawing what is rideable at Jaws and Nazaré, not on trophies.

The moments

Iconic
achievements

World Champion
2010

Kai Lenny Wins the First SUP Surfing World Title at 18, Youngest in the Sport

At 18, Kai Lenny won the inaugural Stand Up World Tour to become the first SUP surfing world champion and the youngest in the sport's history. At Honoli'i on the Big Island, he carved through Hawaiian walls of water toward the first of eight titles.

World Nr. 1
2018

Kai Lenny Takes Biggest Wave and Performer of the Year at 2019 WSL Big Wave Awards

Kai Lenny walked away from the 2019 WSL Big Wave Awards a double winner, claiming both the Men's XXL Biggest Wave Award and Big Wave Performer of the Year. The wave that sealed it: a mountain of Jaws at Pe'ahi, dropped into and ridden clean.

World Record
2019

Kai Lenny Foils the Kaiwi Channel in 2:29:38 for Molokai-2-Oahu Record

Kai Lenny crossed the 32-mile Kaiwi Channel in 2:29:38, the fastest Molokai-2-Oahu Foil crossing in the race's 23-year history and 24 minutes quicker than his own 2018 mark. He rose above the open ocean on a single blade, chasing swells toward Oahu's shore.

Legend
2019

Kai Lenny Enters Surfers' Hall of Fame at 26, Its Youngest Inductee Ever

At 26, Kai Lenny became the youngest person ever inducted into the Surfers' Hall of Fame in Huntington Beach, honored across big waves, SUP, windsurfing and kitesurfing.

World Nr. 1
2020

Kai Lenny Wins Nazare Tow Challenge and Rides His Second Straight XXL Wave

Kai Lenny won the Nazare Tow Surfing Challenge as Team Champion with Lucas Chianca and claimed the Men's Wave of the Day, riding the roughly 70-foot right-hander that would take his second straight XXL Biggest Wave Award

World Nr. 1
2021

Kai Lenny Defends Nazare Tow Surfing Title for Back-to-Back Team Wins

Kai Lenny and Lucas Chianca repeated as Team Champions at the TUDOR Nazare Tow Surfing Challenge, defending their crown at the world's premier big-wave tow event. The pair whipped each other into Nazare's grey mountains of water, riding the Atlantic's biggest swells back to the title.

The record

  1. 2010Kai Lenny Wins the First SUP Surfing World Title at 18, Youngest in the SportWorld Champion
  2. 2018Kai Lenny Takes Biggest Wave and Performer of the Year at 2019 WSL Big Wave AwardsWorld Nr. 1
  3. 2019Kai Lenny Foils the Kaiwi Channel in 2:29:38 for Molokai-2-Oahu RecordWorld Record
  4. 2019Kai Lenny Enters Surfers' Hall of Fame at 26, Its Youngest Inductee EverLegend
  5. 2020Kai Lenny Wins Nazare Tow Challenge and Rides His Second Straight XXL WaveWorld Nr. 1
  6. 2021Kai Lenny Defends Nazare Tow Surfing Title for Back-to-Back Team WinsWorld Nr. 1