Australian paddleboard champion Charlie Verco, the 25-year-old who rescued Leah Stewart after a shark attack at Coogee in June, has broken the world record in a 52-kilometre race across shark-infested waters off Honolulu.

It is the fourth consecutive time he has won the paddleboarding championship. His father, Jamie Verco, said a minute after Verco crossed the finishing line that the result was “Unbelievable, unbelievable and unbelievable. He broke the world record.”

Despite the huge swell caused by a cyclone, Verco broke his own world record to finish the Moloka’i to O’ahu Paddleboard World Championships in four hours and 17 minutes, cutting three minutes off his own record.

Speaking at the finish line, Verco said he was stoked. “It is the best I have felt finishing a race,” he said.

In the early hours of the race, Verco saw a two-metre hammerhead shark cruising along the surface.

“Small hammerheads are kind of cute,” he said.

Conditions improved later, and he was able to gain speed by surfing.

With only an hour remaining in the race across what Verco called the most formidable crossing in the world, Verco spoke to dad Jamie and brother George on a nearby boat, and they made the call to power ahead.

Before setting out, Verco had told his dad to look out for sharks that could be trailing him across the 52-kilometre “Channel of Bones”, as it is known. During the race, his brother George jumped into the water to swim over to feed Charlie.

On Friday, Verco said the course from Moloka’i Island to O’ahu Island through the Ka’iwi Channel was in some of the world’s most dangerous and deepest waters, which are rich in marine life, including sharks, giant turtles and flying fish.

“It is the most formidable crossing in the world,” said Verco, who grew up in Bondi. “It has got a big history behind it. People have lost their lives because of how dangerous the water can get.”

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