Not the first time they’ve almost died. Not the last. Photo: Nathan Florence // Instagram
Usually big wave surfers don’t have to fear death on dry land. Apparently Kai Lenny and Nathan Florence were dissatisfied with that small amount of comfort, so they decided to test their luck at the Red Bull soapbox race.
Held in downtown Los Angeles in May, the annual event challenges participants to careen through a street course in the most outlandish human-powered vehicles they can construct.
The pair started off with a walkthrough of the course, during which they pointed out all the various elements that could potentially kill or maim them. “If one of your arms got stuck in that, your shoulder is gone,” commented Florence about a railing sitting behind some (not nearly soft enough) hay bales marking the course. “And check out the grade of this concrete. This is super rough. This will take your skin off real nice.”
To tackle that nightmare, they had…a haphazardly constructed wheeled Jet Ski, on which Lenny steered and Florence rode behind on a sled. For protection equipment, they donned skateboard helmets and 5mm wetsuits (which in and of itself presented its own hazard in the form of potential heat stroke in the L.A. sun).
Still undeterred, the surfers had decided they were going for broke – all gas, no brakes. “The mantra is now: ‘If we die, we die,’” quipped Lenny.
Perhaps the most impressive part of the whole thing is simply that they managed to not, in fact, expire. Actually, the run went pretty much perfectly, with Lenny navigating them through the course and Florence surfing behind him (when he wasn’t hanging on).
You can watch for yourself, below.
