If you’re over the whole foil thing, this might change your mind. You’ve seen Kai Lenny surf a SUP in the open ocean, and then use a shortboard foil on a wave in Fiji, but this…this concept is pretty out there for most of us normal humans to wrap our minds around. The Maui kid used his 5’6″ shortboard rigged with a foil to surf open-ocean swell on the nearby “Maliko Run,” a designated downwind run from Maliko Gulch to Kanaha Beach (or even Kahului Harbor if one is feeling it) on the island’s north shore. Only the run is usually plied by water people using a paddle, say in an outrigger, on a waveski or atop a SUP. All while being nearly a mile out to sea. Lenny actually starts prone and pops up, then pumps into, and connects, downwind bump.
This guy catches a ton of flack online from cynics in the surfing world. All one needs to do is search his name on Facebook and read the comments under posts about his pursuits. But what I always love about the kid is he just doesn’t give a f*&%. He probably wouldn’t use that word to describe his feelings on the matter so allow me. Dude continues to innovate, find adventure and progress in every sport he has a passion for. It’s difficult for me to find fault in that.
