Bro, What? Kai Lenny Blows Minds at Sunset Beach (Video)

On the first wave we see him paddling in with his fins first, he hops to his feet and quickly does a shove-it while at the top of the wave. While this is a common maneuver in small waves, doing it on waves of this size with an offshore breeze certainly not something you see everyday.

On the second wave he drops in regular but flips to switch stance once reaching the top of the wave after his bottom turn. A move not new by any means, rather a nod to the past when boards were heavy and surfers would oft switch stance whilst turning, but Kai does it on another level. Later, on that same wave, he noserides through a bumpy section while staying high and tight, nearly underneath the lip.

Longboarding may not often break the Internet but this clip surely made its rounds and defied expectations, even for Kai. Comments include things like, "This is instantly the best", from Selema Masekela.

4x World Longboarding Champ Taylor Jensen chimed in, "someone's been watching @champ_russ_k", clearly signaling there are other longboard chargers out there who push the limits of performance while riding big boards most typically associated while gliding, trimming, and walking.

The clip was shot by @ryanjohnson.mov who's got stacks on stacks of Kai doing Kai things like the image below.

The clip was also featured in the weekly newsletter from Shred Sledz, who is one of my favorite arbiters of surf content on the web, with the following praise. "To be honest, I find a lot of big wave surfing footage boring. For years I had kind of glossed over Kai Lenny, even though I of course respect the cojones required to ride big waves. But Lenny is quickly becoming one of my favorite surfers, and I don't think there's anyone who can touch his versatility. Here Lenny makes sizable Sunset seem downright playful on a longboard, combining a sense of carefree fun with critical maneuvers. Such a sick clip.

With plenty of swell on the way, let's see what Kai gets into next.