On Friday April 10th, Bill Goding and Quinn Carver swam from the island of Kahoʻolawe, across the Kealaikahiki Channel to the island of Lānaʻi . Quinn finished in 10 hours and 24 minutes. Bill finished in 10 hours and 44 minutes. There was a book full of stuff that went on from an early mixup on getting my board there, which resulted in me escorting these guys across the channel on a surfboard, to a difference in finishing strategies that split these guys up in the fading light at the finish. But they both made it as I knew they would.
Wow! Long day.
I took lots of pictures and will tell the full story in the days to come. Feel free to ask any questions and keep checking back.
3 comments:
inspiring and scary at the same time. whats next? Tahiti?
alan
I thought you would start at Lanai. You didn't. Were you swimming against the trades? Can you explain why you went the way you did?
JB
Expert advice from boat guys and fisherman was conflicting ("it changes all the time") but the best we could tell the wind would be coming from under Maui out of the southeast. That was pretty much down wind for these guys. Worked out windwise but it was at times 25mph.
They had a current going their way the first half or so. Same direction as the wind. Made for a fast first half but it did push them west a bit. Then they hit a place where I think the current was swirling in circles. A current eddy. These guys were doing 2.5 miles every hour and then hit a spot where they only did half a mile in an hour and most of that was back to the east. This swim wasn't only physical - that was a very serious psychological challenge. Just when they were getting tired the currents turned against them. But starting from Lanai would have been wrong. Way, way, harder.
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