{"id":387731,"date":"2026-07-06T09:56:09","date_gmt":"2026-07-06T09:56:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/387731\/"},"modified":"2026-07-06T09:56:09","modified_gmt":"2026-07-06T09:56:09","slug":"american-rower-makes-record-breaking-solo-journey-from-california-to-hawaii-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/387731\/","title":{"rendered":"American rower makes record-breaking solo journey from California to Hawaii"},"content":{"rendered":"

HONOLULU (KHNL<\/a>\/Gray News) – After 43 days alone at sea, an American rower has made history – and she did it for women everywhere.<\/p>\n

Hundreds gathered along Magic Island and Ala Wai Boat Harbor in Honolulu to watch 32-year-old solo rower Kelsey Pfendler complete her record-breaking journey from California to Hawaii.<\/p>\n

Pfendler rowed into the harbor shortly before 9 p.m. Friday aboard her 21-foot ocean rowing boat, Lily. She was greeted by a large, cheering crowd at the Hawaii Yacht Club.<\/p>\n

\"KelseyKelsey Pfendler, 32, made a solo rowing journey from California to Hawaii in just 43 days, shattering both the women’s and men’s records.(Kodiak Greenwood)<\/p>\n

The 32-year-old was on a mission to become the youngest and fastest woman as well as the first American woman to make the more than 2,400-mile journey from Monterey, California, to Honolulu.<\/p>\n

She did it in 43 days, shattering the previous women\u2019s record of 86 days, 10 hours and five minutes, held by Lia Ditton \u2014 and she also broke the men\u2019s record of 52 days.<\/p>\n

\u201cAccomplishing an amazing feat, you know? People ought to really give a lot of respect to a woman that can do that,\u201d said Robert Hoffman, who was among the hundreds who gathered at Magic Island ahead of Pfendler\u2019s arrival.<\/p>\n

Pfendler began her trip May 21 and celebrated her 32nd birthday at sea.<\/p>\n

Marco Gomez, of San Antonio, Texas, had been tracking Pfendler\u2019s journey and couldn\u2019t contain his excitement that a previously planned family vacation to Hawaii was happening at the same time as her arrival.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know she\u2019s done it with other people, but she\u2019s doing it by herself now. She\u2019s been going out there, and that\u2019s something that most people wouldn\u2019t think of \u2014 that\u2019s being alone out in the middle of the ocean coming over here,\u201d Gomez said.<\/p>\n

The anticipation and the crowd both grew as Pfendler was spotted off Diamond Head, rowing the final few miles to shore. The hundreds that were gathered burst into cheers as she slowly rowed past toward them.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is amazing girl power. So impressed with what Kelsey\u2019s been able to do with everything that\u2019s going on. Just so impressed,\u201d Honolulu resident Amanda Wentz said.<\/p>\n

Pfendler said on her Spotfund campaign<\/a> her mission goes beyond rowing an ocean to inspiring women everywhere to recognize and embrace their strength.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s just so inspirational. Actually, the last live post … she said for everybody who feels like they have something they can\u2019t face, some fear, they can\u2019t do it \u2014 I\u2019m doing this for you,” resident Stacey McConlogue said.<\/p>\n

Pfendler also took on the feat to raise funds and awareness for the Whale Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to the mental, physical and financial well-being of the Grand Canyon river guiding community. So far, more than $30,000 has been donated to the nonprofit since she started her journey.<\/p>\n

Click here to learn more about the Whale Foundation and to donate.<\/a><\/p>\n

Pfendler is a veteran Grand Canyon river guide who\u2019s been guiding multi-day trips to the Colorado River for eight years.<\/p>\n

Her solo row is not the first time she\u2019s crossed the Pacific, as she was the skipper of Hericane Rowing in 2024. She and four other women arrived on Kauai 40 days, 22 hours and 14 minutes after departing from California, battling huge waves, a capsizing, equipment failures and adverse currents.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 Hawaii News Now via Gray Local Media, Inc. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"HONOLULU (KHNL\/Gray News) – After 43 days alone at sea, an American rower has made history – and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":386008,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[7,9,8,2289,136130,156318,156319,156317,156316],"class_list":["post-387731","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-california","tag-california","tag-california-headlines","tag-california-news","tag-hawaii","tag-kelsey-pfendler","tag-pfendler-record","tag-pfendler-solo-row","tag-solo-row-record","tag-solo-rower-breaks-record"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/387731","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=387731"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/387731\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/386008"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=387731"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=387731"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=387731"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}