Surfer, black tip shark share moment
By Curtis Lum
Advertiser Staff Writer
Arnold Lum's friend was bitten by an ulua as he fished off Kahala a few weeks ago, so Lum thought he'd go out yesterday and get a little revenge.
Jeff Widener • The Honolulu Advertiser
But what Lum encountered just off Kahala Beach was more than a papio on steroids. Lum came face-to-face with a black tip shark.
Arnold Lum's surfboard stands testiment to the encounter he had with a black tip shark yesterday at Razers Reef off the Kahala Mandarin Hotel. The shark was estimated to be only four feet long, but its bite of the board was impressive.
Lum, a 55-year-old Mo'i-li'ili resident, was trolling on a surfboard in the early afternoon when he hit a spot of calm water with a lot of leaves. He decided to reel in his $7.95 lure so it wouldn't get snagged.
As he reeled in the line, he saw what he thought was a big puffer fish. But that puffer had a fin and it was headed his way.
"He starts coming at me kind of slowly with his tail swishing and does the "Jaws" bit: puts his head up and the nictitating membrane rolls up and you could see the white of his eyes because they do that when they attack," Lum said.
"So I took the rail of my board, jammed it against his nose. As a result, his nose is up in the air, his mouth is open so I shove the board and it sandwiches into its mouth."
Lum said the shark bit down and took an eight-inch chunk out of the board before swimming away. But that wasn't the end of the adventure.
"Then he turns around and he whacks the tail of the board and I said, 'Screw this,' and I threw the pole in the water and just started paddling like hell."
Lum was shaken, but not injured. He estimated the shark to be about four feet long.
National Marine Fisheries Service biologist John Naughton said black tip sharks don't grow larger than five feet and it's rare for one to attack a human. But he said there is a population of black tips in that area and one could have been in a feeding mode.
"But he's certainly not after the guy, a shark that size," Naughton said. "We've looked at the stomach contents of that species and they don't eat big animals, they just eat fish and octopus and small stuff like that."
Naughton said he wants to take a look at Lum's board to get a better idea what may have attacked him.
Whether the shark was after Lum or his lure, Lum isn't sure. He's just relieved that he escaped unharmed. "Life is too short to worry about replacing a Penn 4200SS and a Berkley rod," he said.
