Maui local, goofy footer Kai Lenny surfed Jaws on a 6’ motorized surfboard composed of Kevlar and carbon fiber, manufactured by Jetboard. His session took place on November 12, 2014, one of the biggest days Hawaii had seen this season. After unbolting the housing to reach the motor, Lenny cranked up the built in 100cc motor like one would crank a lawn mower, placed his feet in the bindings, and cruised to the infamous break known as Jaws. He was riding waves prior to the start of a big wave contest only held when Jaws reached epic proportions and the waves had reached the proper swell height for the contest to get the green light.
As reported by The Inertia, Lenny’s motorized board enabled him to outrun huge waves that would normally plow paddle in surfers. It was cool to watch his rail-to-rail surfing on the monstrous waves. The amount of rocker in the nose of the board helped him over the ledge on the take off and the hand held throttle helped him adjust his speed only when going out and outrunning the massive white wash trying to engulf him at the end of his rides. However, the throttle did nothing for him when actually riding the waves because with the massive amount of water that came with that particular swell at Jaws, there was no backing off and slowing down. He just had to go with it hoping to survive on that speedy little board that looked like a cross between a wakeboard and a blunt nosed fish.
Lenny was quoted as saying, “it’s a cross between a jet ski and a Formula 1 car.”
