‘Au‘au ‘Channel Surfers’ Great Adventure
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Eleven young swimmers from Aulea Swim Club braved the rough waters between Lanai and Maui in late November to complete the 9.6-mile swim across the ‘Au’au Channel despite lack-luster conditions.
“The physical toughness and determination to complete this challenging event was absolutely incredible,” said lead coordinator Jeff Pederson. “The hard training these young swimmers underwent over the past four months really paid off under such demanding conditions.”
Challenges along the course including 8-foot waves, winds of 20 mph, shifting currents and the appearance of several unexpected “fans” - three humpback whales and a 10-foot tiger shark - who shadowed the group for half an hour toward the end of the swim.
“The whales and the shark made things pretty exciting and something I’ll never forget,” said 12-year-old Joshua Toy. Toy and four other swimmers previously participated in the channel crossing, including Nick Pederson, 14, who marked his third successful attempt across the channel last year.
Also among the swimmers were 13-year-old Greyson Tillman and his father Hugh, the only adult in the group, as well as Pound siblings Madison, 12, and Hallie, 13, whose father David supervised the waters from one of four chase kayaks.
“As in every year, the safety of our swimmers is our first priority,” said David Pound, who co-organized the swim.
In addition to the kayaks, two chase boats followed the swimmers every stroke of the way, and to reduce the crowd, swimmers were divided into two age groups: 14 to 16, and 12 to 13. “It was all about finishing as a group and was not a race,” Pound stated. The swimmers had to take water and nutrition breaks every 30 minutes as well.
The older group reached Lahaina in four hours, 31 minutes, with the younger group following 15 minutes later.
“These young swimmers are extremely proud of the amazing feat they accomplished, and rightfully so,” Pound said.
“I really enjoyed the swim,” added Toy, “but we were all so happy when we finally finished and got back to the hotel for ice cream and to sit in the hot tub.”
A few weeks later several of them competed in the state swimming championships at Punahou. Toy and Kiana Yamashiro finished in eighth and sixth place, respectively, for their age groups, and Yamashiro, Hailey Pound and Katie Dalgamouni were on the bronze medal-winning relay team.
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