An amazing story has come to light this week from Zane Schweitzer and Brennan Rose, who paddled the Pailolo Channel, backwards after a couple of days living on the land in Molokai...

Now famous for their Stand up world tour efforts, the two stand up paddlers have been friends for quite a while, and back in March 2011, they spontaneously decided to paddle from Maui to Molokai, camp out on the island for a couple of days and then paddle back. Although the return trip by SUP was just as spontaneous as the trip itself, and far more gruelling due to the fact it was upwind in overhead swell. 

According to the boys, they were the first out of anyone (including in a canoe) who had ever paddled upwind from Molokai to Maui. Due to the strong trade winds that consistently blow from Maui to Molokai, the thought of battling against overhead swell and 20 knots for more than 6 hours is simply mind boggling, but an incredible story. 

Well told by both Zane and Brennan, they paddled to the island fishing all the way. They simply used a lure attached to a rubber thong they were wearing. Unfortunately just before capturing the fish from this ingenious device, it threw the hook and disappeared into the seemingly bottomless channel. On arrival they lived off fish, chickens and a wild deer they shot using a mates gun. This deer was then carted (frozen) back to Maui with them on the front of their stand up paddle boards, adding to the gruelling task. 

Here's an extract from the interview with the two guys:
 
"We were stoked, eating deer, eating like kings at this beach house. We were like, let’s just paddle back, lets do it. Ekolu’s like, ‘You guys want to charge it, charge it, let me know if you guys need to get rescued, I’ll be waiting with the jet-ski if you need it.’ Because nobody’s ever done the Pailolo Channel backwards, upwind, not even in canoes. And Brennan and I are like, yeah, let’s do it."

The whole story is definitely worth a read, so check it out on the Sup Addicts website here. 

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