Jaws, Maui. Photo: Aaron Lynton
Editor’s Note: This feature is brought to you with support from Nomad.
It can’t be easy being Kai Lenny’s younger brother, but if Ridge Lenny was looking for easy, he wouldn’t be a big wave surfer. The 24-year-old, already highly proficient in both SUP and stand-up bodyboarding disciplines, has made a quick entry into the world of big wave surfing this past year, joining his older brother for the incredible waves at Jaws on their home island of Maui, as well as Mavericks and Nazare. It was only a few years ago when Ridge caught his first wave at Jaws at age 20, “My whole life as a surfer felt like it had been leading up to that day,” Ridge said in a recent interview with the good folks at Nomad. “Since we were toddlers, my brother Kai and I watched our heroes surf that spot and dreamed of being out there ourselves. While Kai capitalized on this dream much earlier than I did, I always told myself I’d only go out there when I felt like I had taken all the necessary baby steps and felt 100% ready for whatever the wave could dish out. Catching my first few waves that day with full confidence felt like a huge accomplishment. It was everything I had ever dreamt of.”
Ridge, on a keeper at Maverick’s. Photo: Richard Hallman
The pandemic has made big wave surfing extremely difficult for the elite cadre of heavy-water warriors who, in normal years, are on a plane for Jaws, Nazare or Maverick’s whenever one of the three are breaking, an effort made slightly easier by the fact that the Lennys live within a stone’s throw of Jaws. “These three waves have seemed to become the Holy Trinity in big wave surfing, and for good reason,” says Ridge Lenny, Kai’s equally-athletic little brother. “Maverick’s is the ultimate big wave slab that requires insane amounts of commitment to make it over the ledge. Nazare feels like all hell is breaking loose with treacherous currents and gigantic waves moving in seemingly all directions. Jaws, in my opinion, is the most perfect big wave but also the most powerful. A wipeout in the wrong spot out there is an absolutely horrifying experience.”
Surprisingly (or maybe not), Jaws isn’t Ridge’s favorite wave to surf. “On a day-to-day basis you’ll find me at the little beach break in front of my house in Maui. It may be one of the worst waves on the island but it’s always uncrowded and provides fun sections to practice on,” says Ridge. And by practice, he means airs. “My ultimate goal is to, alongside my brother, push the performance of big wave tow-surfing to a level comparable to freestyle snowboarding. The dream would be to tie together a series of aerial tricks on a wave as if it’s a slopestyle run.” An ambitious goal for sure, but one that the two brothers seem uniquely suited for with their diverse watersports backgrounds, access to Jaws, and nerves of absolute steel (it’s gotta run in the family).
Screenshot from Dawn Patrol
One thing that the two brothers have been leveraging in their merciless attack on the limits of big wave tow-surfing, is technology. “I got an Apple Watch for Christmas and immediately started searching for apps that were tailored to gathering metrics while surfing (speed, length of ride, etc.),” says Ridge. “I was amped to see what kind of data I could get in big waves. My fastest speed so far was 40.6mph out at Nazare.”
A bit sketchy to think about bringing an Apple Watch out into the ocean, much less a wave as powerful as Nazare, but Ridge has a couple tricks to deal with that, namely the 44mm Rugged Strap and the 44mm Active Strap Pro from Nomad. “Nomad straps have been a game changer for me using my Apple Watch out in the ocean,” he says. “The last thing I want in my mind while surfing is stressing about if the band will come undone, which had nearly happened multiple times with the stock sports band. With [a Nomad] strap I can be 100 percent confident my watch won’t budge even in big surf. Not to mention they’re pretty slick too.”
44mm Rugged Strap in Black FKM Rubber (left), and the 44mm Active Strap Pro in Black Waterproof Leather (right).
As for the worst wipeout of the year that tested that watch strap to its limits, Ridge had an easy response. “By far my worst wipeout had to be out at Jaws when I tried pulling into a barrel that collapsed on me,” he said. “I tried jumping away from my board but one foot got stuck in the footstrap as I was getting sucked over the falls. Luckily the board finally came off before it could do serious damage to my ankle and/or knee. Then I got dragged about 80 yards underwater.”
That doesn’t sound like a fun time to me. Or probably you, either. But I guess that’s what these big-wave maniacs live for. At least the Apple Watch survived!
