Some surfers are just natural born competitors, like Kai Lenny.
The Maui waterman and big wave surfer competes in all kinds of surf contests, including stand-up paddling, surfing, downwind foiling, and just about all kinds of boarding.
So it would seem safe to assume that on his free time, a surf session is for freesurfing, right? In the video below, that’s not the case as Lenny creates and enters a surf contest on the fly.
Lenny explained in the caption above:
“An impromptu surf heat with my friend Cody Young at Hookipa.
“He’s a great sparring partner because he is a contest machine and an Olympic hopeful for Canada.
“We had no plans of this, just saw each other at the beach and challenged ourselves to a 25-minute heat.”
As the vlog opens, Lenny and Young are hashing out the rules for the two-man heat they’ve just challenged each other to at Ho’okipa Beach on Maui.
“You can ride whatever you want, we’re doing a real heat, I mean I don’t even care,” Lenny tells Young.
From there, the heat goes off in fun, slightly windy overhead surf.
For about six minutes, both guys ride shortboards, boost airs, and pull into a few barrels.
In the end, the jury’s in.
Young says, “Kai Smoked me.”
But he shrugs the loss off, saying:
“It’s a little different approach than what I’m used to but it’s all good. That’s real life, it’s not always sunshine and rainbows and high scores. Sometimes you fall on every wave.”
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