Nel periodo estivo, quando le onde a Maui, sono più piccole… Kai Lenny, sempre più immerso nel ruolo di waterman, si dedica alle “garette” race di sup del “circondario”… peccato che le garette locali hawaiane, siano quasi delle tappe di coppa del mondo, che vedono la partecipazione di centinaia di concorrenti: nel caso della famosa Maliko Downwind Run hanno raggiunto i 220 iscritti!
Kai a bordo del suo nuovo Naish Glide Javelin 14 LE ha fatto la storia della gara, essendo il primo SUP arrivato al traguardo e con il prestigioso tempo di 1:05:22. See lots more photos here. More info qui. Photo credits: Jimmie Hepp and jdphotofairy.

Kai Lenny sets a new standard by outright winning the Naish Maliko race on his Naish Glide Javelin 14 LE
The 7th annual Naish Paddle Championships were held on Sunday, July 22nd on Maui, with plenty of the world’s best SUP racers tackling the prestigious Maliko Downwind Run. 220 competitors took on the course with Naish’s riders scoring big!
All-round waterman, Kai Lenny was in top form. Despite the wind not behaving like its usual summer self, Kai dug deep on his Javelin 14′0″ LE and made history by being the first SUP to the beach at 1:05:22- beating all the Unlimited class racers who came in seconds and minutes behind him.
Kody Kerbox, also on his Javelin 14′0″ LE, placed third in the 14′ class as did Naish’s Michi Schweiger in the 12′6″ class, and Naish Brazil’s Luis “Animal” Guida came in third in the Unlimited class. For the women, it was Naish team rider Karen Wrenn who took the podium in the Unlimited class, Naish’s Julia Schweiger in the 12′6″ class, and Germany’s Sonni Hoenscheid placed second in the 14′ class.
The rest of Team Naish - including Jerry Bess, Chuck Patterson, Ridge Lenny, Tucker Ingalls, Yoshi Nagamatsu, Suzie Cooney also took top podium places In their respective age classes. Well done Team!
Stay tuned for the upcoming Molokai2Oahu race and the Turtle Bay Summer Paddle presented by Naish in August.
Photo credits: Jimmie Hepp and jdphotofairy