Kai Lenny escaped disaster back in January when he was sent to the hospital after a wipeout at Pipeline during the Da Hui Backdoor Shootout. The incident made headlines mainly because Lenny shared pictures of the helmet he’d been wearing during the heat, now split almost in two.
“First time wearing a helmet at Pipeline and it may have saved my life,” he said, explaining that he’d suffered a concussion and some bleeding from one ear but he was expecting everything to be fine.
In a follow-up interview with KHON2, he’s shining some new light on just how heavy the entire ordeal really was.
“All I remember was falling onto my side and everything going black,” he told KHON2. “And I sort of woke up at the lifeguard tower.”
On the Backdoor Shootout broadcast, Lenny could be seen back on the surface after the wipeout — one that didn’t seem too extreme at the time. The wave itself wasn’t anything spectacular and you’d never have guessed the wipeout was so consequential but it’s also no secret that some of Pipe’s most extreme wipeouts come on smaller days like this one, where getting slammed into the reef is still a very real possibility.
After coming to the surface and climbing onto his board, Lenny paddled to shore under his own power and even started walking up the beach. The heat went on. But according to his conversation with KHON2, he doesn’t remember any of that. He doesn’t remember coming back up to the surface or bringing himself in and now says that’s “the most unnerving part of the whole thing.” He says he’d rather break all his limbs than hit his head because “your head is responsible for your reality. And my reality was completely gone.”
The story is good support for the growing prominence of helmets in the lineup at Pipe recently. This winter, especially, it seems like the safety equipment has been more of the norm rather than the exception. That’s a movement that’s been a long time coming.
“The only suggestion I can make to kids and people that want to surf these heavy waves is don’t worry about what anyone else thinks. They could totally save your life and there’s not one wave on earth that’s more important than you being alive.”
