The Red Bulletin Oct/Nov 2020 (US)

list. Now, instead of plotting when he’ll
become a world champion, his dad says
Lenny’s thinking of more ambitious goals
and charting a path toward a lifelong
career as a professional athlete.
In some ways, being stuck at home
during quarantine has been a
throwback to old times. Lenny can
toss equipment in the back of his truck
and tackle whatever the conditions offer
up that day: windsurfers, kites, wings
and multiple boards painted cobalt blue
with a red racing stripe down the
middle, a nod to his love of Formula 1.
Maybe he’ll throw in some paddles for
good measure. He’s also taken time to
do things he normally doesn’t have time
for when he’s home for short stints, like
mountain biking, training on his brandnew
road bike or hitting the gym. His
dad says, “It’s been wonderful having Kai
just be Kai at home and getting to know
him again.”
When you give Lenny some leniency
and freedom, it’s hard to keep up with
him. Really, the constraints of being
home have allowed Lenny to become even
more creative. Instead of training for his
next competition, meticulously checking
his gear for his next trip or worrying
about his sponsorship obligations, he’s
been reconnecting with what he really
wants to do.
“I’m able to focus on what caught my
eye when I was a little kid and fell in love
with the sport, which is the sport itself,
versus the stuff surrounding it, you
know?” he explains. He’s more concerned
about perfecting the subtleties of various
maneuvers, like the feeling of looking
over his left shoulder when he does a flip
while windsurfing, or really spotting the
landing when doing full 360 airs while
surfing. He’s landed new tricks, too.
After cocooning at home for months
rebuilding, training and gearing up
without distractions and external
obligations, it wouldn’t be surprising if
Lenny explodes back onto the scene
once competitions resume and travel
restrictions are lifted. He says it’s given
him a new perspective, one that’s more
inward focused and analytical. Over the
past few months, Lenny has tried to
break down situations to understand
what allows him to be who he is and
have his best moments. “Is it when my
gear is set up this way? Is it how I wake
up or how I approach it? Do I like to be
a little more relaxed or focused? That
sort of thing will make me much more
successful when it all returns,” he says.
And Lenny can’t wait for it all to
return because he still has goals—many.
“With foiling, I want to ride huge swells
in the middle of the ocean and travel
from one land mass to another. With
big-wave riding, I want to ride the
biggest waves in the world and ride parts
of the wave that either no one has ever
done or only a very few people ever have,”
he says. There may be a Life of Kai, Part 2
in the future, too. And that’s just off the
top of his mind. There are plenty of
missions he hasn’t even dreamed of yet.
“I just want to do everything. I’ll see
someone across the world do something
incredible and then I really want to do
that. I’m so inspired by their approach.
For me, it’s more that I need to get to that
point and then the actual destination of
accomplishing it,” he says. “For the rest
of my life, so long as I have goals ahead
of me, I’ll always be entertained and
having fun.”
“So long as I have goals
ahead of me, I’ll always be
entertained and having fun.”
FRED POMPERMAYER