‘Dig deep’: Kelsey Pfendler describes record-breaking journey solo rowing to Hawaii

HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – Four days after her record-breaking journey from California to Hawaii, Kelsey Pfendler is sharing more details about her trek.

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“Dig deep to be like I’m doing this for a reason and I’m gonna continue even though it’s really hard,” said Pfendler.

For 43 days, 17 hours and 55 minutes, Pfendler endured “really hard.”

Pfendler completed the 2,400-mile journey from Monterey, California, to Honolulu in record time, becoming the first American woman — and the youngest — to set a new record for solo female rowing to Hawaii.

“There is part of me that is so sad that this moment is over because I only get to hang out with the person that I am in those moments when I’m there, there’s a piece of me I’ll never get to be again,” said Pfendler.

The accomplishment took two years of planning, but nothing could prepare her for the relentless elements she’d face — rough seas, high winds and, in the first seven days of her trek, only seven hours of sleep total.

“When I was planning this row, I was thinking how much sleep does a person need because the crux of this is when you’re sleeping that’s when you’re most vulnerable,” said Pfendler.

Rowing more than 16 hours a day, she endured auditory hallucinations — the perception of hearing sounds that aren’t really there.

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But Day 8 proved her toughest challenge. Battling a wind current so strong, she said she couldn’t stop rowing or she’d be pushed farther back.

“I was rowing but I was crying I was just trying to make bargains with the wind like what if you stopped for a little while and I’m just talking to the wind trying to convince it to stop blowing and you can’t make deals with the weather but I was trying,” said Pfendler.

On Day 42 — just one night before she reached Oʻahu — she said she realized the finish line was close after passing Molokaʻi.

“It was getting closer to sunset that doesn’t look like a cloud that is coming from the sea, that is a very rigid line, that is Molokai and I got to see Molokai as the sun was setting and it was faint but it was there and tomorrow you’re gonna see land,” said Pfendler.

Her arrival at Hawaii Yacht Club in Waikīkī drew national attention, with hundreds cheering as she entered the harbor.

“I expected there to be 30 people and there was people chanting I honestly was overwhelmed then really anxious, I don’t know what to do it was just so much so fast because you know being alone for that long and just that much intensity was hard to process,” said Pfendler.

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