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Despite paddling across the Pacific Ocean in 76 days and arriving at Waikiki Yacht Club on Saturday morning, endurance athlete Antonio de la Rosa isn’t expecting to take a long break. Read more

Despite paddling across the Pacific Ocean in 76 days and arriving at Waikiki Yacht Club on Saturday morning, endurance athlete Antonio de la Rosa isn’t expecting to take a long break.

In about two weeks the 50-year-old plans to compete in Fiji in the “Eco-Challenge,” an adventure race with personality Bear Grylis which will air on Amazon Prime Video and is about a grueling 300-mile race that includes kayaking, biking, hiking and other means of travel.

De la Rosa, who will represent the Spanish national team with three other teammates, says he’s in good shape now for paddling, but it’s been about five months since he’s biked.

“I only want to finish,” he joked by phone from his hotel in Waikiki on Sunday.

For now, de la Rosa is enjoying his time on land before heading home briefly in September, having completed his 2,900-mile solo journey across the Pacific — reportedly the first by a stand-up paddler.

“I’m feeling good,” said de la Rosa, who added that he was delighted when he arrived in Hawaii at about 8 a.m. Saturday. “I’m so happy. I love to put my feet on land.”

De la Rosa departed San Francisco on June 9 with his well-stocked 24-foot stand-up paddleboard-and-boat hybrid, called Ocean Defender. He didn’t have an escort boat because, he says, he didn’t need one and it would have been too expensive.

He has rowed solo across the Atlantic and finished the Iditarod Trail in Alaska, famous for its dog sled race, on skis. He also owns an adventure company in Spain.

He said he paddled across the Pacific not only for his love of exercise, but because he wanted to raise awareness about pollution in the world’s oceans. He hopes city-dwellers understand that pollution in the ocean begins in cities away from the coast. On his Pacific journey, he said, he saw plastic and rubbish along with fishing nets in the water every day.

Traveling at an average pace of just over 1.5 miles an hour, some of the most grueling parts of the voyage came at the beginning and the end, de la Rosa recalled.

In the beginning, the currents off the coast of California wiped out any progress he had made during the day while he slept at night, forcing him to paddle 12 to 15 hours a day to stay ahead. Then near Oahu, strong winds off Diamond Head kept pushing him off course.

There were days in between, however, where de la Rosa could row for only four hours and fish for his meals. Just in case, he had brought 90 days’ worth of food.

Completely stocked, his custom-made carbon fiber vessel, which has a sleeping cabin, a water purifier and solar panels for batteries, weighed about 1,500 pounds. De la Rosa said it took about six months and $100,000 to build the boat, which was the more difficult part of the entire expedition.

And the time on the water wasn’t lonely, de la Rosa recalled.

He used his satellite internet connection to post online GoPro videos documenting his journey, update his Facebook and Instagram accounts and check the weather, winds and his heading. He also listened to music and spoke by satellite phone to his family and friends every day.

“I was very busy,” he said. “All the time working.”