THE CHANNEL OF BONES CROWNED ITS 2026 CHAMPIONS

Molokai 2 Oahu 2026: 32 miles of open ocean, 92 paddlers, and every reason we build what we build.

On Sunday morning, a sold-out field of the world's toughest paddlers left Molokai's west shore and pointed their boards at 32 miles of the Ka'iwi Channel — the stretch of the Pacific that athletes call the Channel of Bones. Hours later, they came into Maunalua Bay one by one: salt-crusted, hollowed out, and lit up in the way only this crossing can light a person up.

The Molokai 2 Oahu Paddleboard World Championships, presented by the United States Coast Guard, is the world championship of open-ocean paddling — prone and SUP, solo and teams — and 2026 sold out months in advance. Ninety-two paddlers raced across 23 divisions. Nobody crossed the channel faster than Charlie Verco.

The crossing, by the numbers

Verco's 4:18:03 on an unlimited prone board was the fastest time of the day, full stop — more than 20 minutes clear of the next solo finisher. Stewart Mclachlan took the 14' prone division in 4:42:06, and the stock prone race came down to seconds: Harrison Stone (5:03:11) held off 19-and-under standout Toa Pere (5:03:30) by just 19 seconds after five-plus hours in open ocean. Sit with that one for a moment.

On the women's side, Kanesa Duncan Seraphin put down the fastest female crossing of the day, 5:40:13 on an unlimited prone board, with Allison Schillinger winning stock in 6:00:56. In the stand-up divisions, Hayato Yamamoto's 5:18:30 led all SUP finishers on unlimited, and Robert Stehlik took SUP stock in 5:33:06. The team race belonged to the duos — Miller/Sims won the mixed stock division in 5:15:41 — proof that the channel is a little more forgiving when you can trade the pain around.

And it capped a race week that had already delivered: at the M2O Foil Edition days earlier, Edo Tanas took his third straight world title with a 2:13 crossing and Maui's Annie Reickert won the women's division in 2:52, in light winds that made the ocean give up almost nothing for free.

Why this race is our race

We're not neutral about M2O. This crossing is the purest expression of what H2O Audio exists for: athletes going beyond the usual, in an environment that doesn't hand out second chances. There are no lane lines out there. No walls, no timeouts. Just you, the swell, and whatever you brought with you to keep the rhythm alive.

It's why the field trains with gear built Beyond Waterproof — and why we put our Florence Camo TRI 2 at the center of race week. Open-ear bone conduction that keeps the ocean in the mix. A build that shrugs off salt and swell. A fit that stays locked from first stroke to last.

To Charlie, Kanesa, and every 2026 champion — and to every paddler who gave the channel everything, finish line or not — that's Below, Above & Beyond, lived out loud. We see you.

Relive the crossing

Full results from all 23 divisions are up at molokai2oahu.com, and the race's photo and video coverage is rolling out now on @molokai2oahu, the M2O Facebook page, and the M2O YouTube channel.