FIELD NOTES: THE FIRST O'AHU TO KAUA'I FOIL CROSSING

A groundbreaking 100-mile crossing. Relentless sun, sea and wind. On August 23rd, Test Pilots Brady Hurley & Mala'e McElheny became the first watermen hydrofoil across the Ka'ie'ie Waho Channel.

Read their full interview from the voyage.

Answers by Brady Hurley

When you hit those tough spots out there, what kept you going? There were a few dead/super light wind sections throughout the run. During those times, it's super hard to stay motivated. I’m the type of person where if I start something, I have to finish it and make it happen. Haha. So throughout the most difficult parts of the run, all I was thinking about is how satisfying it will be once we complete the crossing.

How did your gear hold up during the trip? Any issues with your equipment? Both mine and Mala'e’s setups held strong through the whole run with no issues whatsoever. The only problem I had was with the GoPro, the sd card stopped working, so I had to throw my paddle back to the boat for Brent to put in a new sd card. Other than that it was smooth sailing!

You've been foiling for years now—how has the gear evolved since you started? It’s pretty wild to look back at the gear we were riding 7 years ago and how it has evolved over that time. Nowadays we’re riding super long and narrow SUP boards, the foils are a lot higher aspect and way more efficient compared to how they used to be. Board design and foil shapes have come a long way over the years, which makes it possible to do a channel crossing like this one!

Being the first to pull off this journey, how do you think it'll shake up the foiling scene and watersports in general? With the way things are progressing right now, there will for sure be a foiling race from O'ahu to Kaua’i in the near future. One of the coolest aspects of downwind foiling is being able to explore parts of the ocean that didn’t really seem possible before with just a board and foil. I think that’s why we are seeing a lot of watermen/surfers start to pick up downwind foiling.

How did your family, mentors, and local crew support you on this adventure? For both of us, our parents and grandparents were very excited, but also super worried and nervous. It was kind of something where both of our parents wanted to say “No, you guys can’t do that.” , but they knew how motivated we were to make it happen, so there was no way they could turn us down. 

How challenging was it not seeing land for that long? I know you spoke about it briefly in the video but walk through how you stayed motivated during that time and what emotions were you feeling in those moments? To put into perspective, the line we took on our crossing ended up being exactly 100 miles, which is 86.9 nautical miles. For 70 of those miles, we couldn’t see any land, so it never felt like we were making progress and getting closer to the finish. For both of us, that was the most mentally challenging thing we’ve ever done. Towards the middle we were both kind of questioning why we even wanted to do this. The horizon looked the same for 4+ hours over 70 miles, so it never seemed like we were getting closer to Kaua’i. 

Where do you see foiling heading in the next few years, especially for long-distance challenges like this? My vision is that there are going to be some longer distance downwind races (somewhere around 50+ miles) where we have to pace ourselves, instead of the race being an all out sprint the whole time. 

What drives you to take on these epic journeys? Mala'e and I are both super competitive against each other, so the thought of being the first people to ever foil across this channel was pretty attractive to us. 

Got any tips for folks looking to tackle long-distance foiling trips? My best advice for people looking at long distance foiling adventures like this is to be ultra prepared and know your limits, the ocean is unpredictable and you never know what could happen. It took a lot of training the few months leading up to this for us to be physically capable of completing the crossing. Prior to the journey, you want to be thinking about when you are going to finish, not if you are going to finish. 

Looking back, how was this experience for you? What did you learn about the water or yourself? The biggest thing I learned/saw about that part of the ocean was how unpredictable it is, and how constant things are changing. Open ocean downwinding is a lot trickier compared to a downwind run down the coast. For myself, I learned that if I put my mind to a goal, I know I can accomplish it. It also helped quite a bit having someone to do it with.

How’s it feel to have done it, and did it get you stoked for the next one? Thinking back on it now, it just feels like we did a regular downwind run. In the moment it was the hardest thing ever. I know we are both super motivated for the next journey!

What gear did you use for your journey? Gear used: Hydratights, Airtex Long Sleeve Hooded Shirt, F1 Zero Boardshort, Airtex Unstructured Hat. I was as really stoked with how all my gear held up throughout the journey, wouldn’t have changed anything with my Florence gear & foil setup of choice. Our crossing took just under 7 hours. Expending energy in the sun for that long can be super draining, mentally and physically, so having full coverage from the sun really made a difference in my stamina. The bright yellow airtex shirts came in clutch for Mala'e and I being able to keep an eye on each other, along with breathability & sun coverage for the entire run. The hydra tights definitely proved their worth on that crossing, most importantly the sun protection, but also how they kept me cool with all the sweat I was pouring out.

Answers by Mala'e McElheny

When you hit those tough spots out there, what kept you going? Up until about the 4 hour mark, I was feeling good and thinking I was going to make it without any issues but I suddenly felt super dizzy and had a super bad headache. The thing that kept me going was knowing how close we were to reaching Kaua’i. I couldn’t just give up so I tried my best to just stay up on foil and as soon as the outline of Kaua’i became visible I got so much more motivated and pushed through all the pain. 

How did your gear hold up during the trip? Any issues with your equipment? Luckily all of our gear held up great during the crossing. I think the only thing that went wrong was an SD card error on the GoPro but it was an easy fix. 

You've been foiling for years now—how has the gear evolved since you started? When I first started foiling, the foils we were on were super low-aspect, slow, and not super easy to ride. The foils we have now are way better. It’s all carbon fiber, high-aspect, super fast, and relatively easy to ride. The boards have also greatly improved. For SUP downwind foiling, the boards have gotten a lot longer and narrower for more efficiency when paddling on the water. 

Being the first to pull off this journey, how do you think it'll shake up the foiling scene and watersports in general? I think this crossing will really show people how far we can go and encourage people to push it even farther or to try channels that have never been done before. In the future, I can definitely see people going twice as far as we did and if they’re willing to foil in the dark, maybe even three times as far.

Mala'e, growing up on O'ahu's North Shore, did this trip deepen your bond with the Hawaiian islands and their seafaring heritage? Growing up on the North Shore of O’ahu, my whole life is surrounded by the ocean. Out of everything I’ve done, this crossing made me feel the most connected to the ocean because of how far away from land we were. It made me realize how big and unpredictable the ocean is. It also made me a lot more interested in the islands and how the Hawaiians sailed around the pacific without using any modern technology.

As watermen, how did this experience change your view of the ocean and foiling? This crossing really just opened my eyes to how big and powerful the ocean is. I think it also showed me what can happen if I put my mind to something and really work hard for it. 

How challenging was it not seeing land for that long? I know you spoke about it briefly in the video but walk through how you stayed motivated during that time and what emotions were you feeling in those moments? This was probably the most challenging part of the crossing for me. We couldn’t see land for over 4 hours of the trip and it was pretty discouraging. It felt like we just weren’t making any progress and not getting any closer to Kaua’i. It was also pretty disorienting without a way to know which way we were going besides the wind direction. 

Where do you see foiling heading in the next few years, especially for long-distance challenges like this? I don’t really see these long-distance crossings really catching on in foiling unless it’s just to be the first or to push the distance as far as possible. We were going at a pace just to conserve energy for as long as possible and it was still very draining. I definitely don’t think I could race a distance like this but I would love to try to push myself and go for even longer challenges!

What drives you to take on these epic journeys? For me a big motivation especially in downwind foiling is to push myself as hard as I can and in the last few years I’ve pretty much gone as far as possible without doing this channel so it seemed like a pretty obvious next crossing. Brady and I are also very competitive so the thought of being the first to do it or giving up and having the other person finish first pushed us a lot during the crossing. 

Got any tips for folks looking to tackle long-distance foiling trips? I would say the best thing to do is drink a lot of water in the days leading up to the trip and pack plenty of water and snacks. 

Looking back, how was this experience for you? What did you learn about the water or yourself? I think this crossing just gave me a lot of confidence in what I can do. It really inspired me to try new things in the water and to push myself a little further each session. All I had to do was put my mind to it and I could do it.

How’s it feel to have done it, and did it get you stoked for the next one? It feels super good to have done it and it gives me a lot of confidence for other long distance crossings/races because this is as far as you can go in Hawai’i and if I can do this, I can do all the other ones too.

What's next for you boys? Not sure yet, but I’m sure it’s gonna be a good one!