Monterey Rower Smashes Pacific Crossing Speed Records: Report

CALIFORNIA — Kelsey Pfendler rowed into Honolulu Harbor Friday night after 43 days alone on the Pacific Ocean, finishing voyage from California to Hawaii that broke both the women's and men's solo speed records for the route and made her the first American woman to complete the crossing alone.

Hundreds of supporters gathered at Magic Island, Ala Wai Boat Harbor, and the Hawaii Yacht Club to welcome the 32-year-old adventurer as she guided her 21-foot ocean rowing boat, Lily, into Honolulu shortly before 9 p.m. Friday.

Local news outlets reported cheering crowds lined the harbor as Pfendler completed the historic journey, while the Associated Press reported hundreds of supporters celebrated her arrival after tracking her progress across the Pacific for weeks.

Pfendler completed the crossing in just 43 days after departing Monterey on May 21, cutting nearly half the time off the previous women's comparable record of 86 days, 10 hours, and five minutes, set by Lia Ditton, according to reports.

She also surpassed the previous comparable men's record of 52 days.

Records posted by Ocean Rowing Society International, which adjudicates ocean rowing achievements for Guinness World Records, list Pfendler's crossing as the fastest completed on the route, according to the Associated Press.

The journey fulfilled multiple goals Pfendler set before leaving California.

According to her website, she set out to become the first American woman, the youngest woman, and the fastest woman to row solo across the mid-Pacific from California to Hawaii.

By completing the voyage in 43 days, she also became the overall speed record holder for the route after eclipsing both the men's and women's marks.

Pfendler completed the crossing aboard Lily, a Rannoch R25 built in 2019. The 21-foot-long, 5½-foot-wide boat weighs about 730 pounds and had previously crossed the Atlantic in 2019 and the Pacific in 2023 before carrying Pfendler across the ocean.

Throughout the voyage, hundreds of thousands of followers watched her daily video updates on social media.

Pfendler documented blistered hands, sleepless nights, powerful winds, shifting currents, relentless sun exposure, and the mental strain of spending weeks completely alone at sea, according to reports.

She also shared how she prepared meals, made fresh drinking water, washed clothes, maintained equipment, and found moments of humor, joking about her pronounced hat tan line and dependence on caffeine pills.

Pfendler has worked as a professional rafting guide since turning 18 and has spent the past eight years leading multiday Colorado River expeditions through the Grand Canyon.

She also competed on the United States Women's Open Raft Race Team and represented the United States at the 2022 World Rafting Championships in Bosnia.

Before this voyage, she had already crossed the Atlantic by sail in 2020 and completed a mid-Pacific ocean row in 2024."I just love boats in the middle of nowhere," Pfendler said in one of her videos.

As she approached Oahu, Pfendler urged others to pursue their own intimidating goals.

"If any part of this made at least one person feel a little bit more powerful in their own skin, I couldn't ask for anything else and I'm happy," she said.

"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."

In an interview after reaching Hawaii, Pfendler said rowing more than 16 hours a day pushed her to the point of experiencing auditory hallucinations, hearing sounds that were not actually there.

Even so, she continued pulling Lily across the Pacific until the lights of Honolulu came into view and hundreds of supporters welcomed the newest record holder to shore