Girl Sets New Record For Maui-Lanai Swim

Aleaha Webb (left) gives a lei to her sister Skylar following her Nov. 23 swim across the 9-mile Auau Channel. Photo from Cynthia Manley.

While Alex Webb teaches history at Le Jardin Academy, his daughter Skylar prefers to make it.

On Thanksgiving weekend the LJA fourth-grader swam the Auau Channel in 6 hours and 54 minutes. At age 10 years and two months, this makes Skylar the youngest to swim the channel between Lanai and Maui. (Florida native and upcoming world-class distance swimmer Rebecca Mann swam the Auau Channel at age 10 years and 9 months.)

Reports from the group indicate that the “jellyfish aquarium” and torrential currents made the overall distance much farther than its measured 8.9 miles during the Nov. 23 swim. Led by Aulea Swim Club board member Mark Baker – who headed up the club’s first crossing in 2004 – the group of youths and adults with Skylar included her dad Alex, Josh Bittick, Eric Compton, Celia Compton, Jaek Horner, Cameron Lyon, Nicolas Zachmeier, Van Cornwell and Katie De Mieri.

They all trained for weeks before the channel challenge, with the Webbs swimming between 2 and 6 miles on weekends, and Skylar swimming daily from 5 to 6:30 p.m.

Skylar also was the youngest swimmer at the Waikiki Roughwater Swim in September, placing second in the 10-and-under division.