Female US Rower Kelsey Pfendler Completes Historic Solo Journey from California to Hawaii
Female US rower completes historic solo journey from California to Hawaii
I recently completed a record-breaking solo row from California to Hawaii, becoming the first US woman, youngest woman, and fastest woman to cover the 2,400-mile journey. In just under 44 days, I beat previous records held by both men and women, overcoming blistered hands, sleepless nights, and fierce currents. My goal was to inspire others to find their own big, hard, scary things and realize they are strong enough to start.
Think about trying to find your own big, hard, scary thing. You might not think that you are strong enough to finish it right now, but you're definitely strong enough to start it, and you'll find everything else along the way.
- jjcm
This is no joke. I've done the crossing from Moloka‘i to Oahu (~45 miles) in a canoe several times, and those open ocean waves can get very nasty (largest I've dealt with were around 15m tall). I can't imagine the mental endurance required here, let alone the physical. My longest crossing took 9 hours, and I was completely drained by the time I touched shore. 44 days is absolutely insane.
Such a huge accomplishment.
- CharlesW
It's kind of buried here, but Kelsey is the fastest human to do this. She beat the male record holder's time by 6 days.
- SwellJoe
My first thought on hearing about this was, "what's that boat like? I wanna see the boat."
Not to take away from Pfendler's incredible achievement. She's amazing. But, I'm the kind of nerd that immediately went to "surely that is a logistical nightmare, how are you going to carry enough supplies for months at sea in a boat that a human being can propel across the ocean at a decent speed?" It's a bigger boat than I imagined, at 21 feet long and 5.5 feet wide, and 730 pounds. It also has cabins at either end for storage and sleeping.
She gives a brief tour of the inside of the boat here: https://www.instagram.com/p/DZBUJ2VJvp_/
And, she also discusses some of the technical problems she had in some other videos in the series, like not being able to run her desalination machine because not enough sun and having to dip into her emergency water rations.
The athletic side of a thing like this is incredible, but I always want to know the logistics.
- vmg12
I used to row and even the tiniest of waves could make it annoying. You'd slide to the front of your seat and try to insert your oar and catch air instead of water. Then if you overcompensated by trying to insert your oar farther in you'd catch a crab (having the oar ripped out of your control). This is on a lake with tiny waves.
Rowing across an entire ocean is absolutely amazing.
- plorg
It is interesting to see this comment section be both more upset about a perceived threat to bioessentialist stereotypes and specifically more sexist in assumption than the reddit thread I saw the story in.
- a-uz
Kārlis Bardelis has rowed the Pacific, India and South Atlantic Oceans and cycled everything in-between. https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/news/2025/11/record-bre...
- koolba
That’s incredible.
What does one eat and drink on a trip like this? The article talks about her cooking. With a fire or one of those little butane stoves?
Can a small canoe carry enough water for a trip like this or do you rely on rain water too?
- mobilemidget
All i think about when people row, kayak or swim these distances in these waters is 'SHARKS'. Which i read and saw enough about that the chances of meeting one isnt that big, but my brain still associates these activities/areas with it.