Kai Lenny wants a board that will catch a huge wave, but also a board that he can maneuver on those huge waves. Photo: YouTube//Screenshot
Kai Lenny is not a person who is happy with the usual. Once he gets comfortable with something, there’s an itch to scratch. He’s a person who has an open mind, and especially when it comes to wave-riding equipment. Take, for example, the video you see here. Kai Lenny surfed Jaws on a 7’6″ mini gun.
Now, you might not be that impressed by that if you’re not familiar with big wave surfing’s nuts and bolts. “The average gun out at Jaws is 10 feet long,” Lenny explained, “making this 7’6″ three and half feet shorter.”
As waves get bigger, bigger boards are needed to catch them. When waves get too big for a surfboard of a maneuverable size, surfers turn to towing. But for a select few like Kai with a certain skill set and a certain mindset – a person comfortable enough at a wave like Jaws to sit in a critical spot and air drop into it — finding the balance between a board that performs well and a board that you can paddle fast enough is a bit of a white whale. Kai, though, is a master whale hunter, and from the looks of the footage you see here, he might be starting an arms race to see just how short a board a surfer can paddle at Jaws.
“Maybe more big rave riders will give it a try,” he finished.
