19-Year-Old Is First To Cross Lake Michigan … By Windsurfing

Sure, this happened almost two months ago, but the video footage for it just came out, which makes the overall experience that much more exciting.

In case you aren’t:

1. A Lake Michigan local surfer

or

2. An avid Kai Lenny fan,

there’s a good chance you never heard about the fact that earlier this year, 19-year-old Maui phenom Kai Lenny became the first person to ever successfully windsurf across Lake Michigan.

Before you ho-hum this accomplishment by passing it off as a casual lake crossing, let me drop some statistics on you that might make you reconsider how ridiculously difficult of an accomplishment this was.

On his crossing, Lenny traveled a distance of 56 miles at speeds of up to 25 knots, which for those of you who aren’t nautically inclined is 30 mph. The crossing took him 2 hours and 50 minutes in water temperatures that only hovered in the low 50s. Do you have any idea the stamina required to windsurf for nearly three straight hours over choppy seas while being pelted with frigid sprays of water on your hands, feet and head?

It’s more than you or I have, I can assure you.

Just to put things in perspective one more time, out of curiosity I wanted to see how long it takes the ferries to zip across the waters of Lake Michigan. The result?

SS Badger: 4 hours
Lake Express High Speed Catamaran: 2.5-3 hours
Kai Lenny: 2.8 hours

Despite a failed attempt two years ago to accomplish the same feat, Lenny has, once again, firmly planted his name in the record books where few have dared to venture.