"This Moloka'i channel can take the best paddler down," added Mick Dibetta, the race's record holder from Gold Coast, Australia.

The race, which is considered the world championship of long-distance paddleboarding, will start at Kaluakoi Hotel and Golf Club on Moloka'i at 7:30 a.m. Sunday. Paddlers will cross the Kaiwi Channel before arriving at Maunalua Bay Beach Park in Hawai'i Kai. The top competitors should start arriving after 12:30 p.m.

Paddleboards are streamlined surfboards between 12 to 16 feet designed to ride open ocean swells. They are paddled either in a prone or kneeling position. Each of this year's record 32 solo paddlers and 24 teams will escorted by a boat.

"It's a whole new world out there," Dibetta said. "You know nobody can help you and you're on your own. Anywhere else you are in the world, there's always going to be someone to turn to whether a friend or family, but out there, every stroke is your own."

Channel conditions can be unpredictable. Last year, Mitchell said the currents were "dead flat" and it was hot with variable winds. Other times, there could be big swells and trade winds.

"The biggest thing out there is the current," Mitchell said. "If it gets stuck against you, it's mentally draining."

"It's all about riding waves," added Jane Cairns, a 33-year-old from Santa Barbara, Calif. "The technique for the Moloka'i race is sprinting to catch the waves, learning how to catch the waves, staying on the wave and connecting wave. There's a lot of sprinting and then maybe relaxing and sprinting."

The conditions are also hard to acclimate to for those not from Hawai'i. Mitchell and Dibetta have been here for several weeks, trying to adjust to the conditions. Brian Rocheleau, a 28-year-old lifeguard from Honolulu and last year's runner-up, hopes to take advantage of his local knowledge.

"My dad is (in) my escort boat and he has a lot of experience crossing the channel and I really fall on his knowledge," said Rocheleau, who won the team race in 2001 with brother Marc. "He points me in the right direction and I really trust his judgment."

Hydration is key in a race of this magnitude. Mitchell said he drinks lots of water three to four days before the race. The night before, he'll "drink as much as my body can handle."

Cairns said being properly hydrated is critical for her.

"This weather is way more humid than I'm used to and the water is 20 degrees warmer than what I'm used to," she said. "I need to to be putting fluids and hydration in me all the time."

Dibetta added: "A machine has to have fuel and so does the body. If you don't keep that up regularly, your performance is going to fall way down and eventually you're just going to flop."

The race is about focus and pushing yourself. While physical conditioning could get one through the race, it's the mental preparation that allows one to finish, according to Dibetta.

"You have to be a little selfish and be a bit hard on yourself and push yourself," he said. "Failure to me is not winning ... failure is not finishing."