Footage courtesy of Mike Scott, Molokai Channel, Hawaii.

When swimmers head to Oahu to swim across the Molokai Channel, they face a logistical problem: how do they get to the start?

Do they fly from Oahu to Molokai, take a taxi to the beach and start? Or do they stay on Oahu and boat across to the start? It is a major decision.

“Last year when I contacted Steven Haumschild about my intention of swimming Molokai, he recommended boat pilot Mike Trigg-Smith. After securing him as my pilot, he said that he had two options for swimmer and crew,” explained Pat Gallant-Charette who eventually crossed the channel in 23 hours 54 minutes on May 21st this year.

“He gave me two options. One option was for everyone to leave Oahu by boat and travel a few hours to Molokai Island with a potential of getting seasickness. The other option was that my crew and I could fly to Molokai, take a taxi to beach, and the crew would swim to boat. There are no docks in the area. The crew’s supplies and my supplies were given to boat pilot a few days prior to swim date.

My crew and I decided to fly to Molokai.

They loved the swim out to the boat in the pouring rain. It was a unique experience for them. It was certainly an adventure for them, too.”

After her successful crossing, Gallant-Charette wrote in her blog, “Swimming between Oahu and Molokai in Hawaii was an adventure of a lifetime. It was not an easy swim. I found that Molokai Channel was my most difficult swim of the Ocean’s Seven Challenge. Molokai was my 6th swim of the challenge. The difficulty was not the distance of 26 miles but the currents. They are strong and powerful. Many times I felt like I was swimming in place and I was.”

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