Lifeguards stress leap's dangers

By James Gonser
Advertiser Urban Honolulu Writer

Jumping into the ocean from the Kapahulu groin in Waikiki has been almost a rite of passage for children growing up on O'ahu. They learn where the reef has gaps and to time their dives and jumps into the shallow water with the incoming swells at high tide.

Kids leap off Kapahulu groin daily despite signs that prohibit such jumps. A pavilion that the city built last year adds to the problem because kids can jump from greater heights. Richard Ambo • The Honolulu Advertiser

According to statistics gathered by lifeguards, there were 19 cases of major injuries there that required an ambulance to take a victim to the hospital last year. This year there were 13 cases as of June 30.

City lifeguard officials said they could not provide more details about the injuries because of privacy concerns. The number of injuries that did not require hospitalization is not available.

"Every day kids jump off there," said Andrew Iaukea-Smith, whose family runs a rental booth adjacent to the groin. "Tourists see young kids jump off and think nothing is wrong. I advise them not to."

The Kapahulu groin is managed by the city Parks Department. Years ago the city installed signs warning people not to dive from the pier into the water, but the signs were neglected for so long they had become faded and illegible. The signs were quickly changed last week after The Advertiser asked if the lack of proper signs could increase city liability.

City spokeswoman Carol Costa said she knows of no cases involving a lawsuit against the city over an injury at the groin. She said city attorneys tell her the signs, worn out or not, protect the city from liability. Costa said the city Parks Department regularly maintains warning signs.

But in light of a Circuit Court case in which a judge found the state negligent, partly because of poor signage, in the fatal 1999 rockslide at Sacred Falls, City Councilman Charles Djou said the city needs to do a better job at maintaining warning signs and parks without the threat of negative publicity.

"Certainly after the Sacred Falls lawsuit anytime there is a known dangerous condition if we have inadequate signs we can expose ourselves to liability," said Djou, who remembers diving off the pier as a child. "It only behooves the city as a good management practice to make sure we have good signs when there is a known dangerous condition."

Iaukea-Smith said feet and hands sliced by the coral reef are the most frequent injuries but head and neck injuries are also common.

Faded and illegible signs at the Kapahulu groin were replaced last week. Richard Ambo • The Honolulu Advertiser

"We've had some very serious injuries there," said Jim Howe, operations chief of the city's Ocean Safety Division. "It is much easier to dive off the end of it to get out to the surf than paddle out from the beach. It becomes sort of a way for young people to show how brave they are to dive off the thing into the surf. From that regard it is a bit of an attractive nuisance."

Lane Toribio, a 16-year-old McKinley High student, is a regular bodyboarder at walls. Toribio said kids jump off the groin just to have fun when there aren't any waves, but he said you have to know what you are doing and he has seen plenty of people injured.

Honolulu attorney Arthur Park said he is not sure if any signs would be enough to stop children and teens from diving in, but signs are needed for tourists who are not familiar with the area.

Park, who represents many of the families of Sacred Falls victims, said pictorial signs are best for people who don't speak English, such as the many Japanese tourists that visit Waikiki. Signs on the groin show a figure diving head-first with a line cutting across it signifying the international message for "no."

"There is an obvious risk involved and many injuries so there should be clear warning signs," Park said. "The whole purpose is to be able to read it. If you can't, then it is not doing what it is supposed to do."

The city has delayed the reopening of Ha'iku Stairs in Kane'ohe for nine months to install appropriate safety warnings along the popular hiking trail, citing liability concerns.

"In order to have immunity they have to replace damaged or defaced signs," Park said.

A law that went into effect July 1 gives the state and counties protection against lawsuits if there are signs warning of natural dangers at most parks and public lands. The Board of Land and Natural Resources, working with risk assessment advisers, needs to approve the wording of the signs, but the state and counties are required to inspect the signs at least quarterly.

But the law, known as Act 82, does not give liability protection to ocean and submerged lands and public beach parks, including the Kapahulu groin.

Ralph Goto, Honolulu ocean safety chief, said even though the law may not cover the groin, the government has a duty to warn people of dangerous conditions if those conditions are not known or obvious to a reasonable person.

"The kids that jump and dive off of there know about the bottom," Goto said. "Someone else who went out there and saw the kids jumping off might be influenced to do it and say you didn't warn me. The legal guys say if you (put up signs) we are protected. The bottom line is we don't want people getting hurt out there."

Reach James Gonser at jgonser@honoluluadvertiser.com or 535-2431.