The malolo weren’t the only things flying across the Kaiwi Channel on Sunday. Kai Bartlett and Pat Dolan did their best imitation of flying fish by finishing the 40.2-mile Steinlager Kaiwi Channel Relay in record time.

The pair crossed the Magic Island finish line in 4 hours, 21 minutes and 40 seconds, nearly 9 minutes better than the record pace set by Bartlett and Aaron Napoleon in 2002 (4:30:26).

"The conditions were outstanding," Dolan said. "We’ve been lucky all year with our races, good tides and great winds.

"Today that made it very fun and very fast."

So fast that the second-place team of Jimmy Austin and Manny Kulukulualani also came in under the former mark in 4:27:47. Defending champions Danny Ching and Will Reichenstein were third in 4:32:10, some 6 minutes better than last year’s winning time.

Winning the women’s division in record time were Lauren Spalding Bartlett and Dane Ward, who finished in 5:06:21, 26th overall. Bartlett won last year’s race with Andrea Moller in 5:15:49. Finishing second in 5:19:08 were Rachel Bruntsch and Lori Nakamura.

Jane McKee and Jason Ignacio teamed to win the mixed title, finishing in a record 5:05:49, 24th overall.

"It was unbelievably good, from start to finish," said Ching, whose Saturday included a second-place finish in the Survivor Stand-Up Paddleboard race in Waikiki and a flight to Molokai for the relay. "I think the only section that was hard was the middle because we were going so fast, maybe 10-11 miles per hour. I was dodging a few flying fish.

"We had the lead off the (starting) line, and they (Bartlett and Dolan) passed us after the first change. We had a good race; they had a better one."

Seventy-one OC1 teams of two and six OC2 teams of four competed in the relay that started off Kaluakoi, Molokai. Paddlers made crew changes about every 20 minutes, with Bartlett saying their changes were a few minutes shorter once they were off Portlock.

"We were running scared, but having a lot of fun," Bartlett said. "Our line was pretty much straight to Diamond Head and we were playing off the field, what was going on around us. We were pretty blessed to have what we had out there and I feel super blessed that it worked out the way it did."

Particularly since it will be Bartlett’s last race for a while. Many of the paddlers will do one or two more Molokai-to-Oahu races this month — the Molokai Challenge for surfskis is May 20, the ‘Eono Hoe for OC6s is May 27 — before going on to outrigger regatta season.

"I’m done, going to take a break, even from regatta," Bartlett said. "After so many years of focusing on paddling, it’s time to focus on some other things in my life."

Kulukulualani, the race director, said he was pleased with the race overall and his second-place finish with Austin, who won the Kaiwi Channel Solo OC1 Championship on April 16.

"It was good fun, probably the best conditions we’ve ever had," Kulukulualani said. "Sometimes you can have a lull when crossing the channel but not today. There was never a dull moment. There were critters out there as always. Jimmy saw a massive shark, we had dolphins jumping over the boat. Guarantee everyone was smiling all the way across."