Molokai: The genesis

Back in 2016, when I wrote down my bucket list of adventures I wanted to do, it came to me quickly. First were the highest mountains on each continent, after reading the great book “Seven Summits” by Dick Bass and Frank Wells. Because I’m no mountain climber, I added Mount Rainier, as a steppingstone and training ground prior to starting the Seven Summits. Although I have already done the RAAM bicycle race and the Kona Ironman triathlon in the past, I wanted to include them in the list. Then came the RUNAAM, again because of a book I read, “UltraMarathon Man” by Dean Karnazes. Finally, I added two ultra-distance hikes, AT and PCT, and a smaller one, JMT, to gain some backpacking experience I didn’t have. All in all, I had 14 adventures and with that, I started developing my website. However, when I put one picture for each adventure on the homepage, I quickly realized that to fill the page properly, I would have to add one more adventure.
 
I then remembered a swim challenge called “Oceans Seven”. I looked online and it was about seven open water channels swims around the World. One of them immediately caught my attention, Molokai (Kaiwi) channel swim in Hawaii, for two reasons. Number one, my wife Anne and I loves Hawaii, for its beauty, the diversity of each island, and the “Aloha” spirit. And number two, of all the seven channels, Molokai is the only one with warm water! I could never do the English Channel for example. So, Molokai became #15 on my bucket list….and it’s about to happen!
 
People says that if your dreams don’t scare you, they are not big enough. Well, I’m scared as hell about this Molokai swim. And I’m a lifelong swimmer. I would never define myself as a hiker or mountain climber or cyclist, even if I can finish my 15 dreams. But I grew up as a swimmer. I’ve spent countless hours training in the pool or swimming in lakes and oceans. Swimming has been the center of my life. I even met Anne, my future wife, in a pool in Montpellier, France, some 38 years ago! However, I’ve never done anything close to this. Molokai channel swim is on another level. It’s the longest of all seven channels, and it’s considered one if not the hardest one to conquer. Not only you have to be able to swim 28 miles (45km) in open water between the island of Molokai and Oahu. You must deal with the abundant marine life, like sharks and jellyfish. If it’s not enough, the weather in the channel is very unpredictable and usually rough. And finally, because the waves are usually big in the afternoon on Oahu, you have to time your finish in the morning…. which means that you have to start the evening before in Molokai. Yes, it’s a night swim! And yes, it takes an average of 14 to 18 hrs. There you have it.
 
We are flying to Honolulu tomorrow and the swim is planned for Friday evening to Saturday morning. It’s a kind of a short turnover but at least there will be no time to stress out too much before the swim. Waiting game is always the worst. More info to follow…