On November 30th, Dr. Steve Minaglia added another channel to his resume.
After 11 hours 10 minutes, he returned to where he started on the west side of Maui to become the first person to complete a two-way crossing of the Pailolo Channel between Molokai and Maui.
Escorted by pilot Paul Luuwai from Maui and paddle boarder Blair Norris from Oahu, the 40-year-old Professor at the John A. Burns School of Medicine at the University of Hawaii in Honolulu departed earlier that morning in the dark and completed the nearly 19-mile swim.
The active Oahu-based masters swimmer from the Waikiki Swim Club and specialist in reconstructive surgery has also crossed the 9.3-mile Kalohi Channel in 5 hours 48 minutes between the islands of Molokai and Lanai and a one-way across the 9-mile Pailolo Channel from Maui to Molokai in 2012. Dr. Minaglia has also crossed the 8.9-mile Auau Channel from Maui to Lanai in 2011 only one day after competing in the annual Maui Channel Swim in the other direction.
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.