Kai Lenny, James Casey, Luke Shepardson Charge M2O Paddleboard World Championships
A two-hour surf session leaves most of us tired with our arms feeling like noodles.
Now imagine paddling 32 miles from Moloka'i to Oahu across the Ka'iwi Channel, one of the roughest sections of the ocean in the world with depths of 2,300 feet.
That's exactly what 250 men and women did on Sunday while competing in the 24th Moloka'i2Oahu Paddleboard World Championships. The race, also known as the M2O, returned after a three-year lapse caused by the pandemic.
Molokai2oahu captioned the above clip:
"A snippet from the #channelofbones ??"
Competitors raced on prone paddleboards, stand-up paddleboards, SUP foils, and foil wings. The race kicked off in Kepuhi Bay on the northwest shore of Moloka‘i and finished in Maunalua Bay on the southeast shore of O‘ahu.
M2O's 2019 champ James Casey took 10th place, all-around waterman Kai Lenny placed 13th, and the Eddie Aikau Invitational winner Luke Shepardson placed 98th.
Check out the complete list of results here.
We're still waiting on a full video of the competition, but photog Peter King posted the above shot of Lenny in the race and captioned it:
"Cheering on the man today in the Molokai to Oahu race… @kai_lenny riding a forever wave at the end of the race at China Walls heading to the finish line… @One.Hawaii @anewearthproject @ktfoiling @kai_lenny @kaiborggarcia"
According to @yestermann in the comments, Lenny's time was "2:24:08."
Lenny commented on the post: "Thanks for being out there"
Other comments on King's post included:
"That's Awesome! Go @kai_lenny ????????????"
"????????????"
"That dude @kai_lenny ain’t right??"
Congrats to all athletes who raced!
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