Record Breaking Ka’iwi Channel Swim

Photo courtesy of Steven Munatones.

Outrigger canoes aren’t the only method of crossing the Ka’iwi Channel between Molokai and Oahu, as German Olympic swimmer Andreas Waschburger proved on Oct 6. The 37-year-old smashed the current record of 12 hours and 2 minutes with his channel crossing time of 9 hours and 55 minutes.

The nearly 28 mile swim was the longest that Waschburger had ever attempted. Having set a world record crossing the English Channel last year though, Waschburger was confident going into the unknown.

“My training before I arrived [on Molokai] was good,” said Waschburger. “Here, I relax, I swim less, I swim easy, and I try to eat many carbs.”

He spent a couple of days training in the Cooke Memorial Pool and in the ocean off the southern shore before the channel attempt. For the world record, Waschburger would try to keep up an insane pace of one minute-per-100 yards and 65 strokes-per-minute.

Launching from La’au Point in the dark, predawn hours of Sunday Oct. 6, disaster almost upended the swim just as it started. Waschburger cracked his head on a rock upon diving in, cutting his forehead. Ultimately, Waschburger and his team decided to continue the swim, and finished in spectacular fashion.

Battling currents, waves and the midday sun, Waschburger became just the 119th swimmer to cross the Ka’iwi Channel. The first crossing was completed in the 1920s by Olympic swimmer and teammate of Duke Kahanamoku, Pua Kealoha.

For Waschburger, the Ka’iwi Channel was just one part of the Ocean Sevens project – an ultra-endurance open water swimming challenge. Created to mirror the Seven Summits alpine challenge, the Ocean Sevens was started by open water swimming legend Steven Munatones. It targets seven of the most difficult open water channels in the world. The Ka’iwi Channel represented the second leg of the Ocean Sevens for Waschburger. The first channel crossing for him was the English Channel back in September 2023, where he set the world record with a time of 6 hours and 45 minutes.

“This is like crazy stuff,” said Munatones.

Without fins, wetsuit or snorkel, it’s really just the swimmer and the ocean, Munatones explained.

The Ka’iwi Channel is the longest swim in the entire Ocean Sevens.

“It’s very primal,” he said. “This is like climbing Mount Everest,”

Waschburger and crew landed on Sandy Beach on Oahu around 2 p.m. on Oct. 6 — bleeding, dripping in zinc sunscreen, exhausted and a new world record holder.