Kai Lenny Downwinds for Environmental Change

MAUI, Hawaii - Six-time Stand Up Paddle (SUP) Boarding World Champion, Kai Lenny, recently completed a challenging downwind journey across the Hawaiian Islands in an effort to raise awareness around the rising issue of plastic pollution.

Lenny Partnered with Sustainable Coastlines Hawaii and The 5 Gyres Institute to lead the first-ever statewide beach cleanup across the Hawaiian Islands. Using various water crafts (a Naish Hydrofoil, kite foiling, stand up paddling and a sail boat), Lenny traveled the 200 nautical miles through the major Hawaiian Island channels to attend beach cleanups and empower communities around oceanic pollution.

Lenny began his journey on the northern end of the Big Island of Hawaii at Polulu Valley and foiled his way across the ʻAlenuihāhā Channel and landed at the famous Kite Beach where another cleanup took place. It was then from Maui to Lanai, Lanai to Molokai, and then Molokai to Oahu, where Lenny even broke his own personal record time for crossing the infamous Kaiwi channel by just over 40 minutes! The final stretch was then from Oahu to Kauai where the crew would launch a sailboat and test the waters along the way for plastic pollution levels.

“This was all in the name of protecting our oceans and bringing awareness to the pollution that is micro plastics all along our shoreline and in our seas,” noted a passionate Kai Lenny. To follow the journey and learn more watch the short video below, courtesy of Red Bull.

To see more SUP Journeys, click HERE.