On Tuesday, elite standup paddleboarders Jenny Kalmbach and Morgan Hoesterey will set out on their quest to cross all of the ocean channels of Hawaii. Called Destination 3º for the three degrees of latitude that separate the islands of Hawaii, the pair will battle wind, swells and maybe even giant squid, all in the spirit of adventure and giving back.
Nine legendary open-ocean channels link the Hawaiian islands together. The standup paddleboard course covers three hundred nautical miles with two of the crossings crowned as the ocean's most dangerous channels. Jenny and Morgan plan to spend 1 to 3 days per channel during the month of April when the best weather conditions hit Hawaii. The channel from Oahu to Kauai for example, is 85 nautical miles wide and more than 10,000 feet deep. They estimate it will take them anywhere from 15 to 30 hours to paddle across.
Jenny and Morgan are embarking on their standup paddleboard adventure in order to raise awareness and funds for the Algalita Marine Research Foundation, a non-profit whose sole mission is to protect the marine environment. A leading research organization, the foundation studies the prevalence and quantification of plastic debris in the Pacific ocean and the biological impact of plastics on marine life and the human food chain. Scientists have found over a seven-fold increase in ocean plastics in the last ten years alone.
Morgan is the first woman to complete the Oahu to Molokai race solo on a standup paddleboard and Jenny won the race the following year. You can follow along on their latest adventure, from now until they finish sometime probably the beginning of May, over on their Facebook page (destination3), blog dispatches and Twitter (@3degreepaddle).
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