American woman rows solo from California to Hawaii in record bid

Kelsey Pfendler launched from Monterey on May 21 and is trying to become the first American woman to solo row from California to Hawaii, a crossing of more than 2,400 miles across the Pacific. The 34-year-old is also chasing two other milestones on the same trip: becoming the youngest woman and the fastest woman to complete the route.

Pfendler’s boat, Lily, is a Rannoch R25 built in 2019. The ocean rowing boat is about 21 feet long, 5.5 feet wide and weighs roughly 730 pounds, a compact frame for a passage that puts one person alone with the open Pacific for weeks at a time. By June 25, the Ocean Rowing Society’s live tracker listed Lily at 1,511 nautical miles completed out of 2,039 nautical miles, with a projected arrival of July 7.

The record she is chasing belongs to Lia Ditton, who rowed from Tiburon, in San Francisco Bay, to Waikiki in 86 days, 10 hours and 5 minutes in 2020. Guinness World Records lists Ditton’s time as the fastest solo row of the Mid-Pacific east to west, and Pfendler is taking the Monterey-to-Hawaii line, a route the Ocean Rowing Society tracks separately.

Pfendler is also fundraising for the Whale Foundation, which supports river guides’ mental health, insurance and financial stability, and her years in the Grand Canyon river-guiding community shaped the effort. She worked in that world for eight years before turning her attention to ocean rowing.

Pfendler already had route experience before this attempt. In June 2024, she skippered Hericane Rowing, a women’s four-person crew in the World’s Toughest Row - Pacific, on the same ocean corridor she is now crossing alone. In mid-June, she faced hard westerly winds, fatigue and moments of relief, including sightings of dolphins.