Authors: Ben Ruhe
Date Submitted: May 31, 2005
Article Type: Journal

Kiteboarding as a sport is so recent it hasn’t had a chance to train up its second generation. But the process is under way. Polite, handsome, deeply tanned Kai Lenny, age 12, is a promising young star on Maui, able to make a fairly difficult sport look easy.

Kai started board surfing on his own at age 3, took up windsurfing at 7, and turned to kiteboarding at 10. Having both surfed and learned to control multi-line kites by flying stunters on the beach, he found it both easy and fun to learn kiteboarding. Now 4 feet 7 and 71 pounds, Kai studies the pros and then emulates their moves. So far, he has taught himself backrolls, the board grab, the twist, and loops. He has jumped as high as 20 feet in the air and attained a distance of 30. “I crash a lot when I go for the big maneuvers,” he says matterof- factly.

Since there are no competitions for kids, Kai competes with the adults and finds himself holding his own. He has already attracted sponsorship. He gets kites from Naish, boards from Angulo, and clothing from Quiksilver. In return, he writes appraisals on the material supplied. It can be no surprise that Kai has his own very professional website: www.hawaiianwaterman.com which shows him in action with his expensive gear.

PDF Link: Journal Issue