Kai Lenny is the focus of a new profile by Pulitzer Prize winner William Finnegan. Photo: Red Bull Content Pool
William Finnegan, author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning Barbarian Days: A Surfing Life has written a profile on Kai Lenny. It is, as you’d expect from Finnegan, a masterclass in the profile piece. The article, titled How Kai Lenny Learned to Surf the Unsurfable, printed in The New Yorker, delves into Kai’s life, from his determination to his “breadth of technical knowledge and enthusiasm that [Finnegan] found exhausting just to contemplate.”
When William Finnegan won a Pulitzer for Barbarian Days, it created quite the stir. Because the experience of surfing is generally nearly impossible to put into words in a way that doesn’t come off as disingenuous or corny, and because Finnegan had a truly incredible tale to tell, Barbarian Days struck a chord with any surfer who could read a book. And, in perhaps the most impressive part about the book, it struck a chord with people who didn’t surf. It wasn’t so much about surfing, really. It was more about coming of age as a surfer in a time that most surfers dream of being a part of. Surfing was foundational to the story, but it wasn’t the cornerstone.
The book wasn’t his first go-’round with surf literature, as you’d expect. He’s a staff writer for The New Yorker, the publication that Playing Doc’s Games appeared in. That story, an 80-page piece that focussed on Ocean Beach and the varied cast of characters who surf it (specifically physician Mark Renneker), could be summed up as a story about obsession and walking that fine line between surfing and life.
Finnegan followed Lenny throughout his daily life for the profile, a feat that, considering Lenny’s daily routine, is impressive. Finnegan sat on a Jet Ski in the Jaws channel, poked through Lenny’s garage, travelled to Nazaré alongside him, and spoke at length with his friends and family. The piece breaks down his childhood, how places like Jaws were formative to who Lenny would become, and is, in all honesty, one of the most thorough, well-researched, and beautifully written profiles I’ve ever laid eyes on.
With writing’s most coveted prize under his belt and two of the most famous surfing stories ever written having flowed from his fingers, when Finnegan’s name appears on a byline it’s going to be a good story. And when the subject of Finnegan’s interest is Kai Lenny… well, it’s necessary reading for anyone with even a passing interest in riding waves.
Read the full story here.
