I'm glad the stand-up paddle boarder was uninjured (The Maui News, Oct. 19).
Due to the extreme popularity of the stand-up paddle board craze, the increased number of potential victims and the adaptive radiation of SUPers into areas previously seldom surfed, this sort of thing is expected. Unlike five years ago, the main break at Kanaha now hosts more than 50 stand-ups and a handful of traditional prone surfers on many days. Intrepid dawn-patrollers on SUPs, feeling safer in a vertical position, have begun populating the other breaks adjacent to Kanaha's usual surf zone.
The area on the Kahului side of Kanaha off Ka'a Point is known to be sharky, perhaps due to the large numbers of honu which aggregate near shore, where the power plant empties warm water into the sea. What role the sewage outfall plays in attracting sharks to the area is another question.
Were an aggressive attack to happen to a prone surfer or bodyboarder, the event may have been more unsettling. As a prone paddler and regular at Kanaha for more than two decades, I may try to hold my feet up out of the water for while, then, eventually, put it all out of my mind and just enjoy how beautiful the breaking waves are when the rising sun throws its golden rays across the dangerous waters.
Steve Sipman
Haiku
