Jeff Tseng of Brisbane, Australia created the short video about the magic of swimming 42 km across the Moloka’i (Kaiwi) Channel between the islands of Moloka’i and O’ahu in Hawai’i.

Watch here for his beautiful short that captures much of the majesty and challenge of crossing the roughest and toughest Oceans Seven channel.

The following men, women and teenagers have successfully crossed this channel, as certified by the Hawaiian Channel Swimming Association:

1. William K. (Opelu) Pai, Hawaii, 1939 (uncertified crossing, rowed out to sea off Molokai to begin crossing*)
2. Keo Nakama, USA (40), 1961
3. Harry Huffaker, USA (27), 1967
4. Harry Huffaker, USA (32), 1972 (first from Oahu to Molokai)
5. Jonathan Ezer, USA (18), 1974
6. Ian Emberson, South Africa (28), 1979
7. Michael Miller, USA (25), 1979
8. Robin Isayama, USA (26), 1994 (first woman)
9. Forrest Nelson, USA (40), 2006 Oahu to Molokai)
10. Bill Goding, USA (53), 2006
11. Forrest Nelson, USA (41), 2006
12. Linda Kaiser, USA (57), 2007
13. Kelly Gleason, USA (32), 2007
14. Mike Spalding, USA (60), 2007
15. Mackenzie Miller, USA (19), 2009
16. Chris Palfrey, Australia (52), 2010
17. Samantha Simon, USA, 2011
18. Tina Neill, USA, 2011
19. Forrest Nelson, USA, 2011
20. Anna-Carin Nordin, Sweden, 2011
21. Michelle Macy, USA, 2011
22. Darren Miller, USA (28), 2011
23. Penny Palfrey, Australia (49), 2011
24. Stephen Redmond, Ireland, 2012
25. Adam Walker, Great Britain, 2012
26. Michael Ventre, Botswana, 2012
27. Oliver Wilkinson, Australia, 2012
28. Kathleen Wilson, USA, 2012
29. Kimberly Chambers, New Zealand, 2012
30. Beth French, Great Britain, 2012
31. Leahi Camacho, USA (17), 2013
32. Katie Benoit, Germany, 2013
33. Yesenia Cabrera Fuegos, Guatemala (41), 2014
34. Victoria Rian, USA, 2014
35. Jim Barber, USA (54), 2014
36. Cameron Keith, Australia (15), 2014
37. Rohan Dattatrey More, India, 2014
38. André Wiersig, Germany, 2015
39. Mányoki Attila, Hungary, 2015
40. Elizabeth Fry, USA (56), 2016
41. Marcella MacDonald, DPM, USA, 2016
42. Ion Lazarenco Tiron, Moldavia, 2016
43. Jorge Crivilles Villanueva, Spain, 2016
44. Beth French, Great Britain, 2016
45. Steve Junk, Australia, 2016
46. Tom Hackett, MD, USA, 2016
47. Adrian Sarchet, Great Britain, 2016
48. Thomas Pembroke, Australia, 2016
49. Antonio Argüelles Díaz-González, Mexico (56), 2016
50. Cameron Bellamy, South Africa, 2017
51. Steve Walker, USA, 2017
52. Abhejali Bernardová, Czech Republic, 2017
53. Pat Gallant-Charette (56), 2017
54. Prabhat Raju Koli, India (18), 2017
55. Nora Toledano Cadena, Mexico, 2017
56. Mariel Hawley Dávila, Mexico, 2017
57. Sarah Jane Ferguson, South Africa, 2017
58. Toni Enderli, South Africa, 2017
59. Stefan Reinke, USA, 2017
60. Ryan Leong, USA, 2017
61. Dean Summers, Australia, 2018
62. Anna Strachan, Australia, 2018
63. Mark Tan, USA, 2018
64. Lynton Mortensen, Australia, 2018
65. Jonathan Ratcliffe, Great Britain, 2018
66. Dina Levačić, Croatia, 2018
67. Joe Zemaitis, USA,2018
68. John Zemaitis, USA, 2018
69. Paul Eugen Dorin Georgescu, Romania, 2019
70. Paul Feltoe, New Zealand, 2019
71. Florin Tomos, Romania, 2019
72. Pieter Christian Jongeneel Anderica, Spain, 2019
73. Debbie Merwick, USA, 2020
74. Steve Minaglia, MD, USA, 2020
75. Sarah Thomas, USA, 2021
76. Edie Markovich, USA (15), 2021
77. Andrey Bozhko, Russia (34), 2021
78. Bárbara Hernández Huerta, Chile, 2021
79. Dmitry Petrov, Russia, 2021
80. John Batchelder, USA 2021
81. Sayani Das, India, 2022
82. Lori King, USA, 2022
83. Terri Dietz, USA, 2022
84. Zach Margolis, USA, 2022
85. Nathalie Pohl, Germany, 2022
86. Herman van der Westhuizen, South Africa, 2022
87. René Martínez Saenz, Mexico, 2022
88. Jaime Lomelín Gavaldón, Mexico, 2022
89. Daniel Vivero, Costa Rica, 2022
90. Guy Moar, Australia, 2022
91. Mark Sowerby, Australia, 2022
92. Marcia Cleveland, USA, 2022
93. Suwei Chen, China, 2022
94. Andy Walberer, USA, 2023
95. Maya Merhige, USA (15), 2023
96. Steve Leitch, USA, 2023
97. Andy Donaldson, Scotland, 2023
98. Gráinne Moss, Ireland, 2023
99. Eduardo Collazos, Peru, 2023
100. Ezequiel Becerril Zuñiga, Mexico, 2023
101. Jorge Ivan Agudelo Vargas, Columbia, 2023
102. Edward Lomicka, USA, 2023
103. Alessandra Rossi Cima, Brazil, 2023
104. Chris Allshouse, USA, 2023
105. Lauren Lesyna, USA, 2023
106. Rob Woodhouse, Australia, 2023
107. Kieron Palframan, South Africa, 2023
108. Karen Ennis, Great Britain, 2023
109. Colby Dimsdale, USA, 2024

* According to Hawai’i Sports: History, Facts and Statistics and the account by Ray Tsuchiyama, Bill Pai was an Hawaiian fisherman who started his Molokai Channel crossing at Ilio Point and finished at the Blowhole near Sandy Beach on O’ahu in 18 hours 56 minutes. However, he was rowed 50 yards from shore to start his swim off Molokai. Because the Hawaiian Channel Swimming Association (established 1984) rules require that swimmers must complete certified swims from shore to shore, Keo Nakama’s 1961 crossing from Moloka’i Island to O’ahu is recognized as the first official crossing the Moloka’i Channel.

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