Mark Tan Freestyles To His Fourth

Courtesy of Linda Kaiser, Molokai Channel, Hawaii.

Mark Tan has now completed crossings of four major channels in his home state of Hawaii.

The firefighter and paramedic originally from Kailua on Oahu has completed a 15 km swim from Molokai to Lanai across the Kalohi Channel, a 14.2 km swim from Lanai to Maui across the Auau Channel, a 13.7 km swim from Maui to Molokai across the Pailolo Channel, and yesterday, completed a 42 km crossing of the Molokai Channel in 15 hours 19 minutes.

The 51-year-old started at 5:38 pm on 30 June from Papohaku Beach on Molokai and finished up at Sandy Beach on Oahu at 8:57 am on July 1st.

Linda Kaiser [shown on left in photo above] reported, “Mark was escorted by pilot Matt Buckman on a very straight course. He experienced some [jellyfish] stings, but there were no shark encounters and had a great time.”

Tan was grateful for all the help he received along the way, “There are a lot of people who helped make this swim happen: the Tan families in California and Hawaii, Matt Buckman and crew, Ivan Shigaki, Ken Kimitsuka, Linda Kaiser, Bill Goding, the Molokai Channel Swimmers Association, Carl Kawauchi, Sarah Eismann, Ryan Leong, Dean Swimmer, and the Mountain View Masters.”

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