Surf legend Kai Lenny cuts waves with Alinghi Red Bull Racing
If anyone can step into an America’s Cup boat for the first time with no prior notice, and make it look easy, it’s Kai Lenny. For those who aren’t already familiar with the legendary waterman, then to give you a (very) brief overview: Considered by many to be the best big wave surfer on earth, Kai Lenny is an all-round waterman who grew up in Hawaii surfing alongside trailblazers and has now become one himself. Kai has pioneered countless watersports throughout his career, including being credited for spearheading the popularity of the global foil boarding boom and establishing SUP surfing as a competitive sport. As the youngest person ever to be inducted into the Surfer's Hall of Fame in 2019 (at age 26) and the first person to win world titles in the three distinct disciplines of surfing, wind foiling and stand-up paddleboarding, Kai really has done it all. His name even means ‘sea’ in Hawaiian!
To that long list of accomplishments Kai can now add America’s Cup cyclor and helmsman, after recently coming by the Team Base in Barcelona to experience a day-in-the-life of an Alinghi Red Bull Racing sailor. As a big fan of all things watersports, he’s long been a fan of the America’s Cup, but had no idea he’d be invited onboard by the Swiss team as one of their crew.
First up was the AC75, where Kai stepped in as one of the four cyclors onboard BoatOne. Keeping his head down for aerodynamics while providing the boat with hydraulic power, Kai admitted to sneaking a peek when nobody was looking.
“You can't see a lot from the cockpit,” he said. “You can feel it though, that's the best thing. Every turn you make whether it's a tack or a gybe, the g-force pulling you around makes it feel like you're in a Formula One car. There's nothing like it. Compared to other wind sports, it's like going from go-karts to Formula One.”
After perfect wind conditions on BoatOne with speeds of 100km/h, Kai couldn’t resist swapping the yacht out for his wingfoil. Racing alongside the Swiss crew, he was even more impressed by the AC75 from the outside, but even a man with nerves of steel like Kai Lenny – who suffered an infamous wipeout at Nazaré on a wave the size of a 7-story apartment block – gets nervous around these high-speed boats.“When you're winging, you feel like a chicken and then a tiger comes running past you. BoatOne is so much faster, probably almost three times the speed of what I'm doing on the wing. As a smart little chicken, you try to stay out of the way of the big tiger and try to line up for a couple shots but if you get caught in front of that thing you're done.”
Helmsman Maxime Bachelin was excited to share the world of Alinghi Red Bull Racing with the Hawaiian surf icon: “We all know Kai Lenny is a legend of watersports. He was one of the first guys to do wingfoiling – and many of us on the team are wingfoilers too – so seeing him do backflips and tricks next to us was quite incredible.”
Day 2 of the trip really put Kai’s skills to the test, as he’d no longer be riding shotgun. After some initial training on the simulator, he was put behind the wheel of one of the team’s AC40s.
“I never thought I'd ever be able to do something like this. I kind of came here just to check it all out, see the scene, and learn as much as I could from watching. To be given the chance to actually do it, it’s a bucket list thing. I was nervous, it was a bit scary, but it was a 10 out of 10 experience and I'll remember this forever.”
Kai is normally used to surfing monster waves across the Iberian Peninsula, off the coast of Nazaré, Portugal, but described helming the AC40 as the standout moment of his trip.“To be able to go 40 knots downwind, it's just an insane feeling. The only other place I get to go over 40 knots is on a giant wave and that happens only a couple times a year. This way, I don’t need an 80-foot wave!”
“It was a 10 out of 10 experience and I'll remember this forever.”
As a man who’s innovated throughout his career, pioneering foil boarding and pushing boundaries in water sports, Kai also finds the design and technology aspects of an America’s Cup campaign fascinating. “I take a lot of inspiration when I come here,” said the big wave surfer, who notes that he’ll be incorporating some of the team’s safety protocols into his own training. “These campaigns attract the smartest people in the world to design and manufacture this boat. When you bring the two worlds of athletes and designers together, you can create greatness.”Kai Lenny was the first guest to be invited onto both the Alinghi Red Bull Racing AC40 as helm and the AC75 as cyclor. Few could rise to the challenge, but Kai isn’t built like most, effortlessly bridging the worlds of sailing and surfing.
Let’s just hope big waves don’t come to Barcelona when the action starts in a few weeks!
