Meet Kai Barger:

The underground powerhouse in Maui, Kai Barger is quickly developing into a force to be reckoned with. While fellow Garden Isle stars like Dusty Payne and Clay Marzo steal the spotlight, Kai’s quietly been going about his business…which as of late has consisted of massive forehand gaffs and long, no-hands, backside pits. The capable goofy-footer—who has shades of both Freddy Patacchia and Sunny Garcia in his surfing—has refined his act, thriving in anything from perfect six-foot Honolua, to the kegging Brazilian beachbreaks of Fernando De Noronha, to your everyday, run-of-the-mill beachbreak junk. Feasting on a steady diet of pro junior events and travel, the 2008 summer might be Kai’s big breakout season…and if that doesn’t work out, he’s always got the North Shore this winter, where he’ll undoubtedly turn some heads.

Five Minutes With Kai:

Why has Maui become one o surfing’s greatest hotbeds?

Part of the reason that I think the guys from Maui have been so successful lately is because over here we really had to work for it. When we were younger, nothing was really given to us like it is for a lot of the kids on the mainland and on Oahu. There weren’t a lot of sponsors scouting out kids and stuff like that, so we were just really hungry and basically had to do a lot of the legwork on our own.

What are you into other than surfing?

You can’t always go surfing, so when me and my friends aren’t surfing, we’re diving and fishing and things like that to keep us occupied. In Hawaii, so much of our life revolves around the ocean that it seems like we’re always doing something in the water. It just feels really good to me to be in the water.

There’s been a trend lately for a lot of guys to take training pretty seriously, you got anything in the works to stay fit?

I just got a gym membership, like, literally a few hours ago, and for me, it all starts now, like right now. I’m gonna graduate high school real soon and get serious about getting fit. I’m gonna start lifting weights and just trying to get as fit as I possibly can for the year ahead and just do everything I can do.