Honor: Kai Lenny becomes youngest person to ever enter any Hall of Fame!

Oh to be 26 again!

And now that the U.S. Open of Surfing has drawn to a close we can reminisce together about all the good times that were. All the moments we shared under that Huntington Beach sun, delicate silicon filling lungs.

Oh, not my lungs. As you know, I was in Copenhagen all week and am now headed to Paris, the City of Light.

My flight is at an eye-bleedingly early hour but I did get to read Derek Rielly’s quintessential contest wrap. Perfect in every way.

He covered the most important bits, like who won (Yago Dora) and who really won, surpassing Joltin’ Joe Turpel, ‘89 World Champ Martin “Pottz” Potter and one Ronald Blakey as the “voice of surf,” Chris Cote.

Chris deserves the honor very much and the piece in the Los Angeles Times only briefly deals with his early socio-linguistic work in the “bro” field.

A winner that Derek Rielly left out of his wrap, though, was Kai Lenny who was inducted into the Surfing Hall of Fame alongside Steve Hawk and Janice Aragon.

The Orange County Register reports:

Lenny, at 26, received an early induction into the Hall of Fame. But, already, he has a list of accomplishments that have people calling him the best waterman that has ever lived.

Father Martin Lenny talked about how his son was restless as a young boy with a lot of energy to burn – so they took him to the beach every day to run around the sand and swim in the warm Maui waters.

“When he learned how to surf, he had been in the shorebreak, getting clobbered, and would just go back for more,’ he said.

Etc.

Deserving and all true but, let’s be very honest together. Let’s really speak the truth. Doesn’t 26 seem like a crazy early induction? Like, shouldn’t Hall of Fame-style stuff be left for the twilight of a career when those invited can look back upon years and years of accomplishments and reminisce together just like we are doing right now about the U.S. Open of Surfing?

Hmmm.

I think so.

I think this early induction business is a sham and a grave sin against Miki Dora and Barry Bonds but what do you think?

Are you furious?