Molokai2Oahu History and Legacy

The Molokai2Oahu is opening up a new chapter this year. The biggest ocean race has been absent for 3 years and the SUP racing world has moved on from Downwind SUP racing. The pandemic accelerated the spread for foiling and the trend has reached the far corners of land locked Europe. Before we move on from competitive Downwind SUP Racing, lets look a it at the history and legacy of the Molokai2Oahu SUP Athletes that have created so many great memories for all of us who were involved during this special time.

— To lazy to read? Watch the interview with Andera Moller on the bottom of all the results —

The records date as far back as 2005 when SUP first appeared on the official results. We recognize some names, such a Todd Bradley, the founder of C4 Watermen, one of the first SUP brands and notably also a fore runner in the space of inflatables. Brian Keaulana is a pioneer waterman who is well known in the water safety and big wave community, same with Archie Kalepa who is a great pioneer of water sports. He later became a spokesperson for Olukai and helped organize the Olukai Ho’olaue’a. Andrea Moller was also part of the pioneers, to this day she is a well known water woman, she was the early queen of the channel and rose to fame with her accomplishments in big wave surfing. She will be back in the Kaiwi Channel this year marking it her 45th crossing.

Lets look at some results and honor those who broke records and stood out in glorious time of Ocean SUP Racing.

2005

11	Todd Bradley	Brian Keaulana	5:42:31
12	Archie Kalepa	Dave Parmenter	5:45:35

52

Andrea Moller

Maria Souza

6:56:33

74

Kevin

Horgan

9:27:00

In 2006 the participation started to to grow and that gave rise to Ekolu Kalama. He was one of the very early SUP super stars. It would reach too far to go trough every name on this list but you recognize names here that are well known in the world of ocean sports.

2006

1	David Kalama	Ekolu Kalama	5:28:36	TEAM
2	Alan Cadiz	Scott Trudon	5:59:27	TEAM
3	Todd Bradley	Brian Keaulana	6:14:43	TEAM
4	Archie Kalepa	Dave Parmenter	6:31:46	TEAM
5	Campbell Farrell	Sean Ordonez	6:45:12	TEAM
6	Nolan Keaulana Martin	Jason Patterson	6:50:48	TEAM
7	Kevin	Horgan	7:23:14	SOLO
8	Kamuela	Aea	7:25:39	SOLO
9	Andrea Moller	Maria Souza	7:30:04	TEAM
10	Emili Janchevis	Michael Richardson	8:00:53	TEAM
11	Jack	Gillen	8:08:13	SOLO
12	Riel	Custodio	8:15:50	SOLO

We are missing records from the year 2007/08/09 but it was not until 2010 when the Molokai2Oahu started to gain traction. We took the time and wrote down all the SUP Unlimited podiums since 2010 as well as the winners of the 14′ class. It is interesting to see who was part of the M2O since the beginning. Some people came and went and some stuck around over all theses years. There are stand-outs, such a Travis Grant who was the only one to ever paddle the Kaiwi Channel under 4 hours, he also holds the most titles. Sonni Honscheid is the only women who won the M2O three times in a row holding 6 podiums. Her first win was a big boost to her careers in which she won many titles .

Terrene Black holds the female channel record. Both records, Travis’ and Terrenes’ will probably stand forever. Connor Baxter was on the podium 7 times and won 3 of them. We remember the great battle between Kai Lenny and Travis Grant in 2015 and 2016. Kai also won the 14′ class in 2012 at a very young age. We remember the young Travis Babtiste who won the 14′ class from 2013 /14/15 then came the young gun Riggs Napoleon and after that it was Josh Riccio who dominated the 14′ class till the end.

We will always remember the legendary crossings and the accomplishments of all the outstanding athletes even if they are not mentioned in this article. There are simply too many stories to tell. If you are interested they are all archived on this web site.

2018 marked a turning point in downwind SUP, after Armie Armstrong was denied in 2017 to participate on a foil, the race organizers realized the trend was unstoppable and allowed SUP Foilig as its own division. There were 9 guys and 1 girl.

In 2019 it became clear: SUP Downwind racing on unlimited boards was being phase out. Terrene Black and James Casey were the last two big winners of the M2O on a SUP. Terrene set the record for the fastest female and James Casey paddled the 2nd best time ever behind Travis Grants record. The amount of people who started to take interest in SUP foiling was getting bigger and bigger. That year there were still only 12 SUP Foilers and Annie Reickert remained the only female to cross the channel in that category. The writing on the wall how ever was clear: SUP Foiling was the new thing and SUP moved to Europe.

In 2019 Jeffrey Spencer was the first to round the corner at China Wall and only lost to Kai Lenny due to a fall on the final stretch. The stories surrounding the M2O in a post pandemic world will all be about SUP Foiling and the brand new addition of Downwind Wingfoiling.

Molokai2Oahu legacy with Andrea Moller