Record-breaking solo rower Kelsey Pfendler arrives in Hawaii

https://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/2026/07/04/record-breaking-solo-rower-kelsey-pfendler-arrives-hawaii/

by MaysonL • 18 days ago

103 9 18 days ago

wxw• 18 days ago

She began the more than 2,400-mile journey from Monterey, California, to Honolulu on May 21.
Pfendler was on a mission to become the first, youngest and fastest woman to row solo from California to Hawaii. She did it in 43 days, shattering the previous women’s record, 86 days, 10 hours and five minutes [...]

I can't even imagine what this would require physically & mentally.

Congrats Kelsey!

SequoiaHope• 18 days ago

Leaving off the best part of that:

“… She did it in 43 days, shattering the previous women’s record, 86 days, 10 hours and five minutes, held by Lia Ditton — but also broke through the men’s record of 52 days.”

Specifically, she set off to beat the women’s record but actually beat both the women’s and men’s record.

lkjdsklf• 17 days ago

That’s crazy.

The even crazier thing to me was she apparently did it before with 2 other people which took just under 41 days.

It’s kind of mind boggling that she would do this shit twice and that it only took her two extra days solo

MrMember• 18 days ago

I watched a YouTube video about four women who rowed across the Atlantic, it's really good. I couldn't imagine doing it solo.

https://youtu.be/6SYHamnHqU8

saagarjha• 18 days ago

I wish the article had more details about logistics. Did she pack all the food with her? How/where did she sleep? What about inclement weather, did she row through it or take cover? It seems hard to outrun rough seas in a rowboat so I'm curious what the procedure was for that.

mikeocool• 18 days ago

Her instagram account (yourowkelsey) is probably the best thing my algorithm has served up in a while (not a high bar, but hers is in fact really good).

She posted through the trip and answered a lot questions about logistics and the experience.

Someone• 17 days ago

Did she pack all the food with her?

Likely. This wasn’t a race, but typical races require you to pack more food than you’ll likely need, and forbid you from ditching it even if it’s extremely unlikely you’ll need it (say you’re going fast and a day from home with a month of supplies)

How/where did she sleep?

On board, if at all. Typically these crews do 4 hours rowing, 4 hours rest or something like it, but people have been known to do 24 hours on at the start of a race to gain a lead and demoralize the competition.

What about inclement weather, did she row through it or take cover?

Given the record time, she likely didn’t encounter that. If she did, it’s up to her what to do.

It seems hard to outrun rough seas in a rowboat so I'm curious what the procedure was for that.

You have a meteorological team at home that tries to steer you around storms and into advantageous winds and water flow. She did +/- 56 miles a day. At 12 hours of rowing, that’s over 4½ miles an hour, so she likely had, on average, an advantage from flow and/or winds.

If you hit a storm, you stop rowing, close the hatches, lock yourself into your bed and try to rest (ideally, sleep, but in a storm, that’s not likeky).

timonoko2• 16 days ago

How do you resist the temptation to raise somekind of rag on strong tailwind? No witnesses.

-- I was just drying laundry.

timonoko2• 16 days ago

This "rag" pulled really good. There is always wind above 300 meters: https://youtube.com/shorts/mdiKYHHAvAA?si=Vd4T2qiHLQ3Q8Gh-

Record-breaking solo rower Kelsey Pfendler arrives in Hawaii

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