Tow-surfing rules being fine-tuned, meeting told

By Will Hoover
Advertiser North Shore Writer

SUNSET BEACH — About 60 North Shore surfing enthusiasts took a shore break yesterday to sound off at a public meeting on proposed rules for tow-in surfing.

Steve Thompson, boating manager for the State Department of Land and Natural Resources, told the Sunset Beach meeting that more public discussions will follow and he wasn't sure when a final decision would be made.

Tow-in surfing — thought to have started in Hawai'i little a decade ago — is a variation in which jet-powered watercraft tows a surfer out to waves too large and too fast to be caught by paddle-in surfers.

The sport has been controversial, with some questioning its legitimacy, while others claim it is exceedingly dangerous and interferes with traditional surfing.

Under law, motorized watercraft are not allowed within 3,000 feet of the North Shore, a restriction that tow-in opponents such as the North Shore Ocean Safety Association would like to see strictly enforced — effectively imposing a ban in the area.

Tow-in surfers, such as big-wave notable Ken Bradshaw, argued that the sport is here to stay and that it just needs to have common sense safety guidelines.

Hawai'i surfing promoter Randy Rarick said that in recent months, the tide has shifted in the debate — that the two sides are less polarized.

Peter Cole, chairman of the O'ahu chapter of the Surfrider Foundation, presented a statement that said in part: "We feel the right of tow-in surfers to access the outer reefs when the surf is too big and dangerous for regular paddle-in surfing should be preserved."

Cole's statement echoed the opinions of Rarick and other moderates on the issue: Tow-in surfers must always give way to paddle-in surfers, swimmers, bodyboarders, divers and others in a given area.

The proposed rules, hashed out by the state over the past five years, are designed to make tow-in surfing safe for all. They designated specific areas where tow-in surfing would be allowed and require that participants be trained to use watercraft in high surf, that the watercraft used be registered, and that they carry specific safety equipment.

People would be allowed to tow only one surfer at a time and would have to yield the right of way to other water activities and stay at least 1,000 feet from other surfers.

Bradshaw, who first suggested the need for guidelines governing tow-in surfing in 1995, said the rules as they stand are nearly in final form but need fine-tuning.

Cole and others said they are unnecessarily complicated.

The Sunset Beach meeting remained civil throughout.

"We're all friends," said Alec Cook, a tow-in surfer and surf writer for the North Shore News. "We're just here to work out the details."

At least one surfer complained that all sides had missed the point. According to Andy St. Onge, the debate hasn't addressed the perpetuation of Hawai'i watersports tradition.

Tow-in surfing "has little to do with Hawaiian heritage" and "it erodes Hawai'i's sense of place," St. Onge said.