By George F. Lee, Star-Bulletin
Women's winner Jamie Dvorak, men's winner Paul Herbert.

''Other than a few jellyfish stings, I thought the swim went rather well, particularly the winning part,'' said Herbert, 19, after turning the 7-kilometer course in one hour, 52 minutes and 15 seconds.

Said Dvorak: ''My main concern? Not the fast running current but keeping my swim cap in place. I must have lost 30 seconds replacing the cap on my head.''

The 18-year-old swimmer finished second to Herbert overall, placing first among women in 1:53:54.

Herbert and Dvorak, freshmen on the University of Hawaii men's and women's swim teams, respectively, decided on the ocean plunge as a break from studying for final exams.

''Good fun endurance training for the upcoming swim season,'' said Herbert, a 400-yard individual medley competitor.

While the teen sensations hardly worked up a sweat in winning their first Hawaiian ocean swim, an adverse current, estimated at six miles an hour, raised havoc with nearly all others.

''Our slowest, most difficult Christmas swim ever,'' said race director Jim Anderson, 61, the final official finisher (3:55:50) before the event's four-hour cut-off.

''Mother nature was not kind to swimmers today. I hope everyone reached shore safely,'' added Anderson.

Approximately 22 of the 51 starters either missed the finishing deadline or voluntarily withdrew. For safety purposes, every participant was accompanied by a paddler on a board or kayak.

Hawaii's longest regularly scheduled ocean swim started and finished at San Souci Beach, next to the War Memorial Natatorium. The Ala Wai Channel Buoy, two miles along the coast, became the designated turning mark.

Following Herbert and Dvorak came Rick Heltzel (1:54:39). He was followed by Lawrence Dietrich (1:58:48) and Paul Kawai (2:03:21). Gail Grabowski Kaaialii (2:13:47), seventh overall, placed second among women.

''It took me more than an hour, swimming against the current, to turn the Ala Wai buoy,'' said Heltzel, 39.

The current resulted in finishing times 30 minutes to an hour slower for most.

A pack of four, including Herbert, Dvorak and Heltzel, roared off from the start.

''I broke from the pack after about a mile,'' Herbert said. ''Jamie (Dvorak), not my male challengers, became my biggest threat.''

Dvorak, a distance freestyle specialist, was hoping to draft off her swim team pal and sprint past him near the finish.

"I had a good chance of beating him,'' she said. ''But like I explained, that darn cap just kept coming off and coming off.''

How severe was the tide?

''A tougher, more adverse current than I experienced swimming the Kaiwi Channel 17 years ago,'' said Mike Miller, 42, who in 1979 swam from Molokai to Oahu in 16 hours and 20 minutes.

Kaaialii, 33, said she wasn't surprised of the large number of dropouts.

''Pretty wild conditions,'' she said. ''Not only was swimming to the Ala Wai turn difficult but the leg into the beach finish was also a terror.''

Katie Anderson, 45, withdrew from the race off Waikiki's hotel row after two hours fighting the current with little or no success.

''My shoulder hurt and I was tired. And I was going nowhere,'' she said.

Eric Roeder, 32, unable to use his legs because of a disability, swims by using only his arms and upper body. He, like others fighting the tide, wisely withdrew.

''I hated to quit. But after almost three hours with little forward progress, I told my escort, 'Lets call it a day,' '' Roeder said.