LEVI SIVER

It’s intriguing how a land-locked kid from Idaho can grow up to be one of the best windsurfers in the world. Somehow Levi Siver managed. But as is so often the case, it started with his parents. Windsurfing fanatics in their own right, the limited water time afforded to them by living in Idaho prompted them to unload the family home, pack up all their belongings and move to Maui, a windsurfing Mecca of sorts.

Dubbed the “King of Style” for his ability to draw flawless lines and create smooth, inspired manoeuvres, Levi is a distinguished participant in the Professional Windsurfing Association World Wave Tour. “Competing is something I enjoy, but you can’t let it inhibit your creativity or progression, or at least that’s been my approach,” he explains.

Case in point: debuting during the summer of 2010, Levi co-starred in the biggest windsurfing film of the year, Oxbow Waterman Experience, a follow-up to 2007’s genre-defining The Windsurfing Movie. All this is well and good, but what does it mean to him? Is he still striving for more? “I look at my whole career as an achievement,” he says. “I get to do what I love and get paid for it and live in Hawaii at the same time. I’m so thankful that my parents supported me and allowed me to follow my dreams.”