Two men set a new world record in rowing across 2,400 miles of Pacific Ocean, from Northern California to Hawaii, on Thursday, smashing the old standard by 19 days.

Erden Eruc, 55, of Washington state and Louis Bird, 24, of the United Kingdom rowed their way into Waikiki waters Thursday afternoon after 54 days, 42 minutes at sea — beating the previous pairs record of 73 days set in 2014. The duo’s team name is “Sons of the Pacific.”

For Bird, whose father, Peter Bird, completed the first solo rowing trip from San Francisco to Australia three decades ago and later disappeared in a subsequent Pacific crossing, the journey was partly a quest to obtain a better understanding of his late dad.

“It was tough. It was emotional. It was like he was always there,” Bird said, adding that the sensing of his father’s presence provided him with strength. “I feel like I can move on with my life,” he said.

The Great Pacific Race rowing event involves teams of two to four persons and ranks as a grueling ocean competition.

Eight boats started the race but two dropped out. Team Uniting Nations — a four-man team — was the first to finish, coming in July 14 and setting a Guinness World Record, subject to confirmation, for the fastest boat to row the Mid-Pacific route from east to west in 39 days, 9 hours and 56 minutes.

By the time they reach the finish line along Oahu’s South Shore, each racing crew has completed an estimated average of 1 million oar strokes while carrying their own food and equipment, including desalinization units to produce drinking water from the sea.

The average weight loss among competitors is 19 pounds. This year’s batch of competitors are from the United States, Australia, the United Kingdom, Brazil, Poland, South Korea, Iceland, Germany, Belgium and France.

Bird served as a replacement for Eruc’s pairs partner, who suffered a ruptured appendix.

Eruc, who holds multiple rowing records and has crossed the Atlantic twice, said after his partner was no longer able to compete, he received a call from Louis Bird asking whether he’d be willing to team up.

“Being an elder in the community … I felt there was an obligation that if there was to be any initiation for Peter Bird’s son, it had to be by me,” Eruc said.

Peter Bird rowed the Pacific in a solo voyage from San Francisco to Australia in 1982-83 and disappeared in an attempt to row from Vladivostok, Russia, to San Francisco.

When the Great Pacific Race made its debut in 2014, promoted as the “World’s Ultimate Endurance Challenge,” the event attracted three pairs and only two finished, said Chris Martin, the race director.

“The crews this year have been better prepared, and the winds have been better than in previous years,” Martin said.

He said the successful crews manage to maintain a steady pace. “That makes all the difference,” he said. “A tiny fraction in your speed makes a dramatic difference.”

Martin said a number of other entries have broken various world records, and his group is still sorting out that information.

Among teams still in the water, “Row Aloha” is now on pace to finish ahead of two other pairs teams in the race.

Row Aloha’s crewmen, Todd Bliss, 52, of Pupukea and Rich Leach, 54, of Monterey, Calif., were expected to arrive this morning.

Bliss works as an engineer for Matson Navigation, and Leach is an engineer at Monterey Bay Aquarium. The pair rowed together in crew boats at the California Maritime Academy in the 1980s and won a bronze in the West Coast championships in 1984.

“To have both crews on course to break the Guinness World Record by 19 days is incredible, and we cannot praise all four rowers highly enough. It’s utterly unprecedented,” Martin said.