Surfing
Surfing
We're all living in Kai Lenny's world and it's a tidal wave of emotions
An overwhelming desire to be the best at everything he does is what motivates American all-round waterman Kai Lenny in Season 3 of Life of Kai.
Big wave surfing athlete Kai Lenny is back chronicling his adventures on the open water in the third season of Life of Kai, and as ever, Red Bull TV is documenting every single bit of the journey with him as he makes his way through the 2023 season.
We're now two episodes deep into the third season, the second of which you can watch in the video player above. While the first episode was all about how his family life has changed with the arrival of twin baby girls, this second episode focuses on his performance goals following that reset of family life - essentially his desire to break into the world of pro performance surfing, competing in events on the World Surf League Championship Tour and in Pipe/Backdoor events.
Kai Lenny’s focus appears sharper than ever
© Marc Chambers
We recently sat down with Lenny, ahead of the release of the first episode of the new season of Life of Kai, to talk about the third series, where he’s been lately and what he’s done to train for the start of the 2023 season. Read on below to get all the details.
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So, Kai, the big wave season is now in full effect, and new Life of Kai episodes are in motion. What have you been up to since last winter?
Lenny, assessing the conditions - while looking into the future
© Marc Chambers
Wow. That’s amazing to hear…
So that's the biggest change. But I think from a sporting standpoint, it would probably just be that the culmination of everything that I've been working on is starting to pay off now. The confidence to do exactly what I want to do, like big manoeuvres on big waves… Sometimes it feels like it takes a lifetime to get to a certain point. And what I mean by that is, you know, you can start a goal and have all these lofty ambitions, but that goal, that dream can wear out from training fatigue.
Then just when you start feeling like, 'Oh, I don't know if this is the right path forward, should I shift gears?' You almost get thrown a bone and maybe you land a trick or maybe big waves now don't seem as scary as they once did. So, I think that's just due to the fact that it's been 13 or 14 seasons of surfing big waves for me. You start looking at them just a little differently. So that’s what I mean by a fresher outlook.
Interesting. So as far as goals that you've been working on, at least in the water, you said it's primarily big manoeuvres in big waves?
Yeah. I took a trip to the Pacific Northwest to go snowboarding, which seemed super random, but the whole purpose behind it was to learn how to do double flips. So, this winter, the goal is to do a double flip on a big wave. The chase is on for that. Now we just wait on conditions because, unlike a mountain with snow, it's not static and you don't get to practice as much in big surf. It's like: when it happens, best be ready for it.
I don't know if most people might notice across all my social media, everything's gone quite flip-oriented. And that is just because that's what I'm focusing on now, like in every sport, doing some sort of double is just preparing me to do it on the ultimate canvas, which is a large wave.
Kai Lenny surfs big waves in Nazare, Portugal
© Mattias Hammar/Red Bull Content Pool
Unreal. Any other goals for this coming winter or plans for this winter?
I mean, the same goals apply from the last season. I want to win the Nazaré Challenge, I want to win the Jaws Challenge and I want to surf Pipeline more. Those are just kind of the normal stuff that I'm doing. On top of all that, I would love to go explore some different big waves that I've never surfed or maybe are infrequently surfed.
Any ones specifically that you've kind of had your eyes on?
Actually, what blew my mind was seeing that huge swell that hit the Canary Islands recently. I don't know if you saw that. It looked like Jaws. I was like... I already kind of had that zone in the back of my mind, but that just sort of sealed it. I'm always feeling like, God, there has to be more big waves than just the three that we surf every winter, right? I'm sure everyone's quite bored with seeing the same few waves fairly repetitively. Plus, a place like that… no crowds.
“I'm learning so much even just from my girls as well,” says Lenny
© Marc Chambers
You mentioned something about “growing up but not slowing down” earlier. Talk to me about that…
Yeah, I think there's no more procrastination. I mean, there was already not that much procrastination, but any little bit that exists, it's like: "Okay, let's get it done." There's no emotion attached to simple tasks. If it needs to get done, it gets done. And I'm learning so much, even just from my girls as well. You can see they're taking in all this information they're seeing. I can learn as much from them as I need to teach them in a way. Like, there's nothing blocking them from evolving or moving forward. So, I got to have a similar mindset. But I love working hard because it just means that I get to do more of it, in a way. I just need to organize my time precisely.
Right. So, more episodes of Life of Kai are in motion… what should we expect from future episodes?
It's going to kick off where we stopped, which was definitely fulfilling manoeuvre goals on giant waves, doing stuff that no one's done yet. Hopefully, conditions-dependent, exploration of different types of waves, and different types of zones. And then I think you could look forward to just finding new approaches to riding waves and wind. Which is what I’m all about. It’s answering the questions: What is the next new exciting thing that can be done out there? What could we possibly do? So, I'm always seeking that, and I think there's definitely some exciting stuff to explore in the next little while.
Kai Lenny harnesses the wind yet again on a kite
© Marc Chambers
We can’t wait. And weren’t you just in a windsurfing contest a little while ago, speaking of riding wind?
That's right, I was. I ended up getting third place. And that’s another thing I really want to do, I want to get back to competition. I want to get back to winning, you know? I mean, there just haven't been that many events for what I do, but I love competing. And if I can win the two big wave events that maybe could happen this year - which are the Jaws Challenge and Nazaré Tow Challenge - then I'll be super stoked.
Kai Lenny at Nazaré
© Mattias Hammar / Red Bull Content Pool
Yeah, hope they run! Anything else we can expect from upcoming Life of Kai episodes?
I think the way the episodes are going to be this time will truly be a different perspective and a different approach. We actually have a little different crew working on it, too, so the feel will be different. But I think this different feel will actually make everything feel fresher. I just don’t want to give viewers the same template every time, you know? That’s what I’m really excited about by this.
One thing we’re going to focus on is how I find a balance between all these different ocean sports when, often, I’m competing against someone who’s only focused on one thing. Like pro surfing, for instance. I doubt anyone expected me to keep chipping away at that and going for the positions that I’m trying to get into. But with every opportunity, regardless, you just got to take it with humility and do my very best to be worthy of that level.
More episodes of Life of Kai will follow in the weeks to come, and you can binge-watch Seasons 1 and 2 as well as the new episodes here.
