2-18-10

For a number of months now, I have been visiting the beach between the Kaanapali Beach Club and Kaanapali Shores resorts. Initially I started going there to see and photograph seahorses. I noticed a reef break there that was not a great wave but seemingly never crowded, if anyone out, and ideal for riding my wave ski. We have had numerous swells this winter and I have surfed this spot almost every day.

Even when the surf was quite small and conditions good for snorkeling and viewing the seahorses, there was an evident current and rip tide present. It seems that a nearby fresh water stream, any waves and the tide can all augment a rip current that travels out from the beach in a deeper channel between shallow coral reef sections. This channel is marked with three moored buoys and there are signs off the beach walk warning about this rip current. There is information as to how one needs to swim either north or south into the surf zone and come in to shore with the waves and not attempt to swim against the rip. I am not convinced these signs are read by very many people and the result is many people young and old find themselves in the rip current and not capable or aware of how to get out of it. I personally have towed a number of men and women out of this rip and on one occasion came close to serious fatigue myself. Others who frequent this beach and are active in the ocean in swimming, surfing or diving have also had their share of rescues.

A couple of days ago, after towing in a few people that day, I was talking with a friend about the danger here and how the typical tourist was completely unaware of it. I mentioned that someone was bound to get in trouble and not have someone on hand capable of helping them out.

Knowing that the strong trade winds had likely blown out the surf today, I still went down to this beach to see if it might be worth going out anyway. When I approached the access road I was dismayed to see a number of police cars and a few fire rescue vehicles. I was certain I knew what the problem was before I parked and walked in to check the surf. I didn't pry for the particulars but apparently there was a group of swimmers with mask and snorkel but no fins that got caught in the rip. All but a young man were able to get back to shore. The conditions were terrible for snorkeling with very poor visibility but I guess this didn't deter this group. When I arrived, a local surfer I have seen there before told me that the young man had last been seen about a half hour earlier. When he arrived he didn't see the swimmer in trouble or he would have paddled out on his board. He too has aided people here in the past. If the conditions had been more reasonable, there probably would have been a surf class going on and those folks have done more than their share of rescues as well.

At any rate, when I arrived, a search was already in action and there were a couple jet skis out there. Later they were joined by a couple fire rescue boats which searched out further off shore and a helicopter came in and joined the scene as well.

In the image above and below, you can see one of the buoys used to mark the rip current channel and these buoys have rings on top that people often grab to arrest their travel out to sea. The problem is how do they get back to the beach and especially after they have exhausted their reserves and panic sets in.

With a fair number of rescues myself now, I have come to appreciate how difficult it is to comport both yourself as well as another through the rip even at an angle with the intent of getting over to the shallows and into the surf. I am convinced that the best solution is to have a long rope with a float having grip handles that can be drifted out in the rip or swam to the person in trouble but have the tow power come from people on the beach who can simply walk away from the ocean pulling the person to shore. If the load on the line is too great to pull the person in through the rip, it can be used to pull them at an angle, out of the rip and into the surf zone.

I mentioned this concept to police, a life guard and fire rescue personnel today and although they all agreed it was a good idea, it was out of their realm of responsibility and authority. One word that came up numerous times was "liability". An employee of one of the resorts told me that the problem of this rip was brought up to management at some point with the hope of getting some literature or warnings posted in the rooms but management felt that should they alert guests to the problem and still have a serious incident, they could be held liable for not being effective in their warning.

It seems that the responsibility and authority to do anything about this risk falls on the state and possibly the DLNR.

Had I arrived 45 minutes earlier I have no doubt that I could have got out there on my wave ski and aided this young man in getting back to shore as I and many others have done countless times; just another close call. I feel terrible that knowing about this hazard, I have done little more than mentioning it to others with hope that something be done. Some form of an on site rescue system does not seem unreasonable nor should the cost be of any real consequence or impasse or so I would hope. I left after a couple hours and the search was still on. I can only hope that the young man is OK and will be found somewhere away from the search area but this is not the only possibility.

Update: It is now 10:00 PM on the same day and as I type this, there is a Coast Guard helicoptor flying up and down the coast just off shore with a search light on. It was a bit before noon time when the young man was last seen out past the last buoy.