66-year-old Pat Gallant-Charette just completed a 23 hour 54 minute crossing of the 26-mile (42 km) Molokai Channel from Molokai Island to Oahu en route quest to complete the Oceans Seven.
Since 2008, she has now completed crossings of the English Channel, Catalina Channel, Strait of Gibraltar, Tsugaru Channel, North Channel, and Molokai Channel with one more channel to go: the Cook Strait, a swim that she first attempted in 2014.
The retired nurse from Maine said, “I’m glad that swim is behind me….I found it to be my most challenging swim so far.
The currents were horrendous.”
The Kaiwi Channel Association confirmed her crossing set the record for the oldest woman to successfully cross the Molokai Channel at the age of 66 years 107 days. She will describe her adventure in detail on her website shortly.
Southern California native, born 1962, is the creator of the WOWSA Awards, Oceans Seven, Openwaterpedia, Citrus Corps, World Open Water Swimming Association, Daily News of Open Water Swimming, Global Open Water Swimming Conference. He is Chief Executive Officer of KAATSU Global and KAATSU Research Institute. Inductee in the International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame (Honor Swimmer, Class of 2001) and Ice Swimming Hall of Fame (Honor Contributor - Media, Class of 2019), recipient of the International Swimming Hall of Fame's Poseidon Award (2016), International Swimming Hall of Fame's Irving Davids-Captain Roger Wheeler Memorial Award (2010), USA Swimming's Glen S. Hummer Award (2007, 2010) and Harvard University's John B. Imrie Award (1984). Served on the FINA Technical Open Water Swimming Committee and as Technical Delegate with the 2011 Special Olympics World Summer Games, and 9-time USA Swimming coaching staff. Note: WOWSA only recommends products or services used or recommended by the community. WOWSA does not receive compensation for links or products mentioned on this site or in blog posts. If it does, it will be indicated clearly on that specific post. See WOWSA's privacy policy for more information.