Man, 50, goes on unprecedented 3,000-mile ocean voyage, lives to talk about it

By Mark Puleo, AccuWeather staff writer

Some use their vacation time to take a trip to Hawaii. Others may visit California. Others still may use their time to paddleboard.

But before Antonio de la Rosa completed his 2,951-mile journey from San Francisco to Honolulu, no one had ever paddleboarded between the two locations.

The 50-year-old endurance athlete from Spain has completed numerous notable voyages in past years, such as circumnavigating the Iberian Peninsula on paddleboard, rowing from Senegal to French Guiana alone or skiing the Iditarod Trail in Alaska.

"Every year, I do a different expedition," de la Rosa told Accuweather. "My inspiration is to do what no one has done before."

The sleeping quarters of the Antonio de la Rosa's paddleboard. (Photo/Antonio de la Rosa)

De la Rosa completed his trek on a 24-foot board equipped with 90 days worth of food, a sleeping section, GPS equipment and only the use of his two arms to paddle the distance.

He also filmed the entire trip and posted daily videos to his Facebook page, showing followers around the world what each day entailed.

Some days, like July 24, were videos of excitement and accomplishment as he celebrated his birthday on the open seas. On other days, like day 53 and day 55, de la Rosa shared his struggles and frustrations about the impacts of hurricanes Erick and Flossie on his journey.

De la Rosa left San Francisco on June 9 and didn't set foot on land again until Aug. 24.

In tackling his 76-day journey, de la Rosa not only had to deal with the open waters but also unpredictable weather impacts. He said he planned the route with normal seasonal weather trends in mind, but a variety of different conditions gave him an even steeper task.

"The weather, I found, was not normal weather," de la Rosa said. "I thought normally the hurricanes are due in the middle of September, but not this year... Three weeks ago, two passed really close to me. Flossie passed me very close, about 100 kilometers."

During those weather-battered days, de la Rosa said it was much tougher to maintain his course.

(Instagram photo/Antonio de la Rosa)

"It was difficult, there were days on the boat when I had to say ‘uncle’ when I had bad weather and had to wait a day," he told AccuWeather. "Other times I paddled into the wind. Closer to the Hawaiian coast, I had three days when I paddled eight or ten hours but then when I slept or rest, I’d come back and be at the same distance. If I paddled 20 kilometers, I’d come back 20 kilometers."

But for the most part, de la Rosa said he had favorable winds for 90 percent of his journey. One of the main reasons he picked the June to August time frame for his trip was because of the reliable east to west winds.

On days with a favorable wind direction, he said he could paddle up to 50 miles in a single day.

Even when the winds and weather made his paddling efforts more difficult, de la Rosa's experience on the water and GPS kept him on course.

"I was never worried about getting blown off track," he said. "Especially with GPS. I could see all the time my exact position and never got lost. I could see all the time where I was, no problem."