"I remember being super terrified!"
Don’t you love it when the good guy wins? I know surfers are touchy as hell, but can we all agree that Kai Lenny is the sweetest, loveliest, most adorable boy in surf?
Yes? Of course!
Earlier today, Kai, who is twenty four years old and the master of all sorts of surf craft including the suddenly popular hydrofoil, beat a diverse field of Australians, Mexicans, Portuguese, an Italian, a Brit and some Hawaiians to win a compelling one-day event in twelve-foot beachbreak tubes.
“I remember coming here last year and being super terrified because I had never been here,” says Kai.“My goal today was to not hold back and – when a good one came – go no matter what. It was a pleasure competing with these guys. Any one of them could have won if they got the waves and I was just grateful to get that last one in the end. It was so special.”
Perhaps even more impressive than Kai was the board paddler turned big-waver Jamie Mitchell who competed despite busting his sternum after being hit by his board at Puerto three weeks earlier.
“There are so many guys wanting to be where we are right now. They are animals,” says Jamie. “You just go into beast mode and try to numb out the pain.
Do you want to watch an abbreviated highlights package?
Here’s Kai’s contest-winning cabana.
Billy Kemper came out of this tube contorted like one of the
gargoyles of Notre Dame.
And the wipeouts! Funny!
2017 BWT Puerto Escondido Challenge Final
Results:
1 – Kai Lenny (HAW) 23.53
2 – Jamie Mitchell (AUS) 18.64
3 – Tom Lowe (GBR) 12.23
4 – Billy Kemper (HAW) 8.50
5 – Alex Botelho (PRT)
6 – Trevor Carlson (HAW) 2.46
2017 BWT Puerto Escondido Challenge Semifinal
Results:
SF 1: Billy Kemper (HAW) 16.89, Trevor Carlson (HAW) 12.27, Alex
Botelho (PRT) 8.07, Makuakai Rothman (HAW) 7.94, Jimel Corzo (MEX)
7.13, Nathan Florence (HAW) 6.73
SF 2: Tom Lowe (GBR) 15.34, Jamie Mitchell (AUS) 12.54, Kai Lenny
(HAW) 11.27, Nic Lamb (USA) 10.77, Oscar Moncada (MEX) 6.00,
Rogercin Ramirez (MEX) 1.64
2017 BWT Puerto Escondido Challenge Round 1
Results:
Heat 1: Billy Kemper (HAW) 24.17, Trevor Carlson (HAW) 17.60,
Nathan Florence (HAW) 16.34, Grant Baker (ZAF) 11.53, Angelo Lozano
(MEX) 8.64, Cristian Merello (CHL) 2.16
Heat 2: Jimel Corzo (MEX) 12.77, Alex Botelho (PRT) 11.74, Makuakai
Rothman (HAW) 10.37, Coco Nogales (MEX) 8.07, Peter Mel (USA) 6.83,
Will Skudin (USA) 3.13
Heat 3: Tom Lowe (GBR) 18.06, Kai Lenny (HAW) 16.54, Nic Lamb (USA)
13.97, Rusty Long (USA) 13.51, Pedro Calado (BRA) 10.86, Jose
Ramirez (MEX) 7.77
Heat 4: Oscar Moncado (MEX) 12.66, Jamie Mitchell (AUS) 10.31,
Rogercin Ramirez (MEX) 8.10, Francisco Porcella (ITA) 7.66, Damien
Hobgood (USA) 6.53, João de Macedo (PRT) 5.63
2017 WSL Big Wave Tour Schedule:
Southern Hemisphere: May 1 – August 31, 2017
Puerto Escondido Challenge: Puerto Escondido, Mexico
Northern Hemisphere: October 15, 2017 – January 31, 2018
Nazaré Challenge: Nazaré, Portugal
Pe’ahi Challenge: Haiku, Hawaii