Kai Lenny on Red Bull series ‘Life of Kai’ and status of big wave surfing

Kai Lenny sat down to discuss his new Red Bull TV series, ‘Life of Kai’, and how his big wave career is going during COVID.

Like all sports, the sport of big wave surfing has changed over the last year. Contests are being canceled and postponed, but the waves themselves haven’t been canceled. The waves are still out there, pumping as hard as ever and the big wave surfers are getting barreled whenever they can. It can be hard for someone who has never seen the men and women riding these giants to imagine the magnitude of these waves. Now, these people can get a first-hand glimpse into the life of one of these big wave surfers, Kai Lenny. Lenny has teamed up with Red Bull TV to put out his own series, aptly named, Life of Kai to show the world what exactly goes into making it on one of these monster waves.

Lenny sat down with FanSided to discuss the show, how it came to be and what will be coming in the future.

“It’s been a goal of mine for a long time and I was just stoked that Red Bull gave me the opportunity to do it,” Lenny explained. “It’s been really cool to be able to show people the behind the scenes. They see the big moments of riding giant waves for example and finally, they get to see the inner workings behind it. The ups and the downs, and the stresses that it takes. I always thought it would be interesting for people to experience.”

The future of contests is unsure right now, but many have adopted a digital format, such as the Red Bull Magnitude contest going on now. Lenny gives his thoughts on these sorts of digital platform events.

“As far as the competition feeling goes you don’t even notice it,” Lenny said. “There are tens of thousands of people pre-COVID that would come and film and do all that. So when you have these film crews up in the bushes, filming you off of a cliff, you don’t even see them. For the most part, the whole digital thing is cool, it’s not nearly as exciting or fun I think. At least it gives the people the opportunity to be in a competitive form.”

Despite the effects that the coronavirus has had on the ability to get to these big waves all around the world, Lenny keeps his optimistic attitude and looks to the bright spots in life.

“Literally right after filming the whole world shut down,” Lenny explained. “I was really lucky because I was stuck here on Maui for the entire summer which I haven’t done since I was like 12 years old. I have been traveling all my life, fortunately, but I definitely felt like I needed to plant my feet and feel the ground again.”

Life of Kai is available to watch in full on the Red Bull TV app and on the Red Bull Surfing YouTube channel. According to Lenny, there will be a second season.