Photo courtesy of Jeff Kozlovich and Steve Haumschild, Molokai Channel, Hawaii.

Dr. Tom Hackett knows sports very well.

He has served as a team physician to the Los Angeles Lakers, Los Angeles Sparks, Los Angeles Dodgers, Los Angeles Kings, Anaheim Ducks and Los Angeles Galaxy professional sports teams. He also serves as the head team physician for the USA Snowboard Team as well as a team physician for the US Ski Team. His dryland duties also include providing medical advice to the Colorado Rockies baseball team and the American Mountain Guides Association.

But he has also been a carpenter, a ski patroller, mountain guide and archaeologist, mountaineer, guide, and ski patrolman with experience in wilderness medicine and rescue.

So he knows the wilderness including what it takes to cross the English Channel.

Now he is really stepping it up into the wilderness as he left the beach on Molokai Island last night at 6:24 pm as he swim to Oahu on a Molokai Channel crossing.

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