Getty Image / Octavio Passos
A massive swell descended upon Maui and Oahu over the weekend bringing enormous waves to some of Hawaii’s most famous surfing spots.
Jaws, one of the most famous Big Wave Surfing spots on the planet, was firing on all cylinders and Kai Lenny saw it as the perfect opportunity to bust out a new trick he had been working on. It’s unclear what he plans on calling the trick but it is definitely a front flip. Except he’s not going end over end, he’s flipping his body perpendicular to the wave.
Kai Lenny pulled off the front flip while charging a 20+ ft wave that from the bottom to the top appears to be taller than most 2-story homes in America. This is an absolute giant of a wave and a wild time for Kai Lenny to bust out his new flip trick:
I spoke with Kai Lenny for an interview back in 2021 and we discussed his secrets for riding the biggest waves on Earth.
While that might be one of the illest tricks we’ve ever seen Kai Lenny pull off it wasn’t the only highlight-worthy moment of his session at Jaws. Unfortunately for Kai, one of the most accomplished surfers in the world, the other main highlight from the sesh was him getting sucked over the falls and forced to feel the full wrath of Jaws.
A drone captured him getting suck back just as he was about to clear the crest:
There aren’t many comparisons in life to the feeling of helplessness and dread of getting sucked over the falls on a large wave. Time is both at a standstill and moving a mile a minute.
You’re aware of what’s happening and also aware that soon you won’t know up from down as you get slammed upside down and backward into the water and there’s a solid chance you get the wind knocked out of your lungs.
Kai Lenny appears to have swam away just fine but that was a GNARLY wave he got sucked over the falls on.