“Life of Kai” Season 4, Episode 1: Rescue

Kai Lenny: Yeah, this winter there’s been a lot of hype around El Nino and I felt like it was quite a ferocious start in the sense that all the swells came with teeth. There’s been a lot of long-interval, big West swells. Some giant waves, but not your typical El Nino. I think what we’re witnessing is a transitional period, though, between La Nina and El Nino because of all these wild winds. It’s like the winter can’t decide what it wants to be, but the swells we’ve had have been massive, and I would also say often under-forecasted. Like, we’ve had a couple of big swells that probably could have run the Eddie but it was before the waiting period or the winds were not good. No matter what we want or forecast, you can’t forget that Mother Nature has the final say.

I think the only way to be successful is that you’ve got to love the game because it is a competitive field. There’s only so many great waves and you’ve got to go out there and get it, but ‘the game’ is also about being competitive with the ocean itself. It’s bringing your absolute best every time you surf a giant wave and having a vision of what you want to do beforehand. What I love about the new generation is that they don’t know that they’re mortal yet [laughs] and so their risk level is really crazy. They can get away with a lot, although eventually everyone discovers that there’s a line in the sand that you can get close to — but you might not want to cross.

That being said, it’s really fun just seeing someone put on a really epic performance and get an incredible wave, which does make me feel like, ‘Hey, I can do that; I want to go deeper, I want to push harder.’ So, it’s not about beating anyone, more, about being inspired. I really do believe if you don’t have rivalries or a competitive spirit, then it’s really hard to get really good. You need to be pushed by someone. I think that’s just human nature.

Basically, without them we wouldn’t be able to do what we do. I simply wouldn’t be able to push myself as hard. Now, the water safety guys are riding the best machines in the world which gives them the confidence they need. Which, in turn gives me the confidence that I have trusting that they can pretty much save me in any situation. It’s so cool to see how the teams have evolved to becoming more and more not only calculated in the lineup, but actually meticulous off the water with their equipment. They’ve become really astute with their machines beyond just riding them. These guys know their machines inside and out and how far they can push it, which is an advantage. They’re also always finding ways to pull maximum performance out of them.

At first, it was honestly a little uncomfortable. Or, strange, might be a better word. Initially, you’re thinking that the firefighters and National Guard or whoever are on it, and you don’t want to get in their way. But then we quickly realized how overwhelmed the firefighters were, so as a community we saw where we could help in places where there wasn’t any attention. The last thing you want to be in an emergency situation is part of the problem or get in the way, so all of us big-wave surfers and water safety guys were quite cognizant of that.

But seeing all the displaced people in Lahaina that had nowhere to go, had no supplies and were just cut off from the rest of the island with no fuel, no electricity — that was an area where we could help. We were able to transfer a lot of goods and life-saving equipment to hubs via Jet Ski and boat. Lahaina Town was completely burned down, so there was nothing for us to do in the burn zone, so the whole time I was just finding a way to help. For me, a lot of that aid was more in the background in different ways, giving money to people that truly lost everything and really needed it.