Kelsey Pfendler rows solo from California to Hawaii in record bid

Kelsey Pfendler pushed off from Monterey, California, on May 21 with Lily, a boat built for a solo, unsupported crossing of more than 2,400 miles to Oahu. The 34-year-old is trying to become the first American woman to complete the route, while also aiming to be the youngest woman and the fastest woman to do it.

The benchmark she is chasing is formidable. The current world record stands at 86 days, 10 hours and 5 minutes, held by Lia Ditton. Pfendler has said that if she finishes, she would be only the third woman ever to row solo from California to Hawaii, a reminder of how few athletes have attempted the crossing at all.

Her campaign is tied to a cause much closer to home than the open Pacific. Pfendler is fundraising for The Whale Foundation, which supports the mental health, insurance and financial stability of Grand Canyon river guides. That work connects directly to her own career: she has been a professional raft guide since age 18 and has spent the past eight years guiding multiday trips in the Grand Canyon.

The expedition also draws on a résumé built in whitewater and open water. Pfendler represented the USA on the USA Women’s Open Raft Race Team at the 2022 World Rafting Championships in Bosnia. She completed her first ocean row in 2024 and has crossed an ocean twice, experience that has helped prepare her for the scale of the Pacific, where weather, fatigue and isolation can turn every day into a test of endurance.

Pfendler has been documenting the voyage on TikTok, sharing the highs and lows as the miles accumulate. Her posts have captured rough weather, westerly winds, exhaustion and sightings such as dolphins, small moments that sit beside the larger demands of keeping a boat moving alone across open water. In a sport where logistics, money and mental resilience matter as much as strength, her crossing has become both a record bid and a public measure of how much it takes to survive the route at all.