Kaiwi Channel Swim Testimonials

5/5/26

This time, I challenged the Moloka‘i Channel swim. The reason I decided to take on this challenge goes back to a year ago, when I participated in a long-distance swim called the Maui Nui Swim. At that time, it was my first open water experience, and I had started to feel somewhat bored with competitions in Japan. I wanted to swim in the vast open ocean.

I immediately searched online and found an organization in Hawaii that coordinates long-distance swims. Even though my inquiry email was quite sudden, they responded kindly. As a Japanese swimmer with limited English skills, I truly appreciated how hard they worked to support me.

The Maui Nui Swim was a three-day plan to swim between Moloka‘i, Lāna‘i, and Maui. Since our 10 km swim times were quite close, Steven swam with me over the three days. On the final day, the younger swimmer Zach also joined us, and together we successfully completed the Maui Nui Swim.

Their kindness and strong commitment to safety left a deep impression on me, which led me to consider taking on the Moloka‘i Channel challenge this time. Another reason was that while swimming together, Steven encouraged me by saying, “You should try Moloka‘i next.”

For this Moloka‘i swim, the planned start time was 2:00 a.m., so I had to wake up very early. Since I had no experience swimming in the dark, I felt quite anxious. I had to swim from the shore to the boat while carrying my gear, which was also my first time doing so. It was both physically demanding and nerve-wracking, and by the time I reached the boat, I was already out of breath. However, since Steven and Zach—who had swum with me during the Maui Nui Swim—were there to support me, I was ultimately able to feel at ease.

After boarding the boat, I then had to access the shore again from the boat in complete darkness. In the dark, I couldn’t tell whether I was approaching rocks or a beach, and I carefully made my way through rocky areas before finally reaching the shore. At that moment as well, Steven supported me, which gave me a great sense of security. If I had been alone, I probably wouldn’t have even been able to start.

Once I arrived at the beach, it was finally time to begin. By then, I had already used a significant amount of energy and felt quite anxious. However, once I started swimming, I found that under the moonlight I had no problems at all and was able to begin smoothly.

I am truly grateful to Steven and Zach for supporting me and ensuring a safe start.  (2026, Norihito Yoshioka)

4/29/26

The things I'll do to avoid work emails... Thanks Derek, for telling our story!

This ʻrecord' will be shattered in short order when some fast swimmers get on this line with these conditions, but as a proof of concept, I'm just so happy, to have been a small part of what Steven and his team are working on, exploring what's possible in these waters, and of course having Lynn keeping me focused (and alive!) on the water.  Captain Jamie Barlow I would trust on the water under any conditions, and the man knows fish, especially sharks!

Again, just a really wonderful adventure with amazing people.

And while it's hardly controversial (hell, Laura E. Young wrote a book about it, Solo Yet Never Alone: Swimming the Great Lakes, I'll stand by this line forever:

"It's always the team.  None of this happens without this extraordinarily dedicated and experienced group of people".

Thanks again everyone- swim on!  (2026, Loren King)

4/1/25

While the Maui Nui Swim and Triple Maui Nui Swim are Steven Minaglia's main focus he further explains why Maui Nui Swim increased its involvement assisting Kaiwi Channel and other Hawaiian channel swim crossings, "We were seeing the same courses, same starting points, same starting times, and same direction over and over again.  It seemed these choices were based primarily on crew considerations and less on swimmer ability and marine habitat data.  Furthermore, early 2025 swims were still being conducted in a way that increased the likelihood of cookiecutter shark encounters despite available research published late 2023.  I got more involved in organizing Kaiwi Channel swim crosses to enhance swimmer safety, encourage novel course design, spark friendly competition among consulting associations and captains, and increase input from swimmers."

(2025, Steven Minaglia)