212

HONOLULU (AP) — A Grand Canyon river rafting guide who aimed to become the first American woman to row across the mid-Pacific solo has completed a record-breaking journey from California to Hawaii.

Hundreds gathered to cheer on Kelsey Pfendler as she pulled into a Honolulu harbor Friday night on her 21-foot row boat, Lily, after nearly a month and a half at sea, local media reported.

Pfendler, who launched from Monterey, California, in May, set out to become the first American woman, youngest woman and fastest woman to make the more than 2,400-mile journey solo, according to her website. Hundreds of thousands of people followed along with her journey on social media, where she shared the highs, lows and quirks of her trek in videos taken as she bobbed alone on the vast ocean.

Pfendler appears to have broken both the previous women’s speed record as well as the men’s speed record, according to records maintained by Ocean Rowing Society International, which adjudicates ocean-rowing achievements for Guinness World Records. The organization didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment from The Associated Press about Pfendler’s finish.

top 12 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[-] TheTechnician27@lemmy.world 33 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago)

Fucking big deal. I can do that too. There's a branch off the North Equatorial Current that takes you right there; surely something that eats me in Monterey Bay will show up in Hawai'i eventually.


Edit: Either this is a really tough crowd or one that didn't pick up on the self-deprecating twist where I die and get eaten immediately into the journey.

[-] Deebster@infosec.pub 18 points 6 days ago

I think a lot of voters don't really read or think about a comment, just respond on vibes.

[-] Grimy@lemmy.world 10 points 6 days ago

I can probably do it in less than a day with a proper launching system. I say probably because I can only try once.

[-] TheLowestStone@lemmy.world 5 points 6 days ago

Lol... Down voters didn't make it past the first 8 words. It's a pretty good post if you make it all the way to the punchline.

[-] TropicalDingdong@lemmy.world 3 points 6 days ago

Yeah you can't bury the lede so deep

[-] Deebster@infosec.pub 2 points 5 days ago

You get an upvote for spelling lede correctly.

[-] TheTechnician27@lemmy.world 3 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago)

It's 20 words – 4 seconds at an average English reading speed of 300 wpm.

[-] TropicalDingdong@lemmy.world 2 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago)

It's not the length it's the structure. You've got to introduce Chekhov's gun right away.

[-] Deebster@infosec.pub 29 points 6 days ago

Pfendler finished in just under 44 days, faster than the previous comparable female record holder’s 86 days or the male record holder’s 52 days

Not even close, that's seriously impressive.

[-] jpreston2005@lemmy.world 16 points 6 days ago

In a recent video posted as she neared Oahu, she reflected on the meaning of her accomplishment and what she hoped others would take from it.

“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. I’m going to go finish my big, hard scary thing.”

Fuck yeah

[-] craigers@lemmy.world 10 points 6 days ago

I think this should be upgraded from mildly interesting to actually interesting

[-] Zephyr@sh.itjust.works 4 points 6 days ago

Awesome, literally just became aware of this yesterday. Awesome for her beating the human record for this. That's a distance of at least 2,285 miles. I wonder how long it took not only her but everyone who has accomplished this so I can calculate the average speed across the journey.

this post was submitted on 05 Jul 2026
212 points (100.0% liked)

Mildly Interesting

27152 readers
60 users here now

This is for strictly mildly interesting material. If it's too interesting, it doesn't belong. If it's not interesting, it doesn't belong.

This is obviously an objective criteria, so the mods are always right. Or maybe mildly right? Ahh.. what do we know?

Just post some stuff and don't spam.

founded 3 years ago
MODERATORS