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Kaua'i surfer's arm lost to 14-foot shark
By Jan TenBruggencate
Advertiser Kaua'i Bureau
HA'ENA, Kaua'i — The shark that took 13-year-old surfer Bethany Hamilton's left arm Friday morning was a massive animal, a tiger shark about 14 feet long and weighing probably a ton.
Jan Tenbruggencate • The Honolulu Advertiser
"There were a couple of real good tooth imprints in her board, and it was definitely a tiger shark. From the size of the bite, I would say it was 14 to 15 feet long," said Randy Honebrink, spokes-
Bethany Hamilton was attacked at West Reef, part of the Tunnels reef off Ha'ena Beach Park on Kaua'i's north shore. A large shark was seen in the area yesterday, but it was gone by afternoon.
man for the state Shark Task Force, who inspected the board yesterday morning. "The biggest tiger shark ever caught in Hawai'i is 16 feet," he said.
Bethany talked about the attack yesterday in an interview with KGMB-TV.
"My arm was hanging in the water, and it just came and bit me," Hamilton told the television station.
She said the shark pulled her back and forth, "but I just held on my board, and then it let go."
Fellow surfer Jeff Walba described what he saw Friday as he, Bethany and a half dozen others were in 5-foot-deep water at a section of the Ha'ena or Tunnels reef known as West Reef.
"I was looking right at her. There wasn't even a splash or a ripple. It never surfaced. I don't think she saw the shark hit her," Walba said. "She looked down and saw her arm was gone, and she freaked."
Bethany was having a joyous time just before the attack, Walba said.
"There was no wind — it was perfectly calm. The waves were small. I couldn't surf it, it was too small. She could. She's a little munchkin," Walba said.
Bethany and her best friend and surfing buddy Alana Blanchard had a habit, when they were happy, of making sounds like dolphins.
"She was making a dolphin noise. ... And then all of a sudden it turned into a scream," Walba said.
Bethany was paddling after riding a wave, and he recalls that her left arm was down in the water at the end of a stroke when it happened.
Walba said he paddled straight for shore, ran up to a beach house, and pounded on the door to call for an ambulance. Family friend Holt Blanchard, Alana's father, joined others in getting Bethany to shore. Blanchard wrapped his rash guard around her shoulder initially to control the bleeding. Later, he and others used a surfboard leash on the stub of Bethany's arm to form a tourniquet. The girl's mother, Cheri, said she believes Blanchard's actions saved her daughter's life.
Bethany, whose arm was bitten off just below the left shoulder, was at Wilcox Hospital yesterday. Family members said she was alert and conscious.
"It was a very clean amputation," Dr. David Rovinsky said.
Hamilton's background in competitive surfing helped her survive, he said.
"This is a woman who is a highly trained athlete, and because of that she's able to handle a huge blood loss really well," Rovinsky said.
"She is probably the best young surfer I have ever seen," said Bobo Bollin, who works at the Hanalei Surf Co., which sponsors a surf team that includes Hamilton. "She was going to be the women's world champion, and I think she still will be."
Many here said they expected Bethany to ride the waves once again. Her father wasn't so sure. "She's back and forth," Tom Hamilton said.
For now, Bethany is taking things day by day, undergoing a blood transfusion yesterday and preparing for a second surgery tomorrow. Anyone wanting to write to her can send e-mail to bethanyhamilton@mac.com.
Lifeguards and fishermen yesterday morning reported seeing a large shark on the reef fronting Ha'ena, not far from the attack site, but by the time Honebrink and firefighters flew over the reef in a helicopter at 1 p.m., there was no sign of the shark. The county's Ha'ena Beach park was reopened to swimming at 2:30 p.m.
The story of Bethany Hamilton's miraculous survival is international news. Newspapers, magazines and TV networks around the world have been calling Kaua'i trying to arrange interviews with family members, friends, Fire Department officials and local reporters.
Surfers and ocean experts say sharks, even huge ones, are no surprise to regular surfers and others who know Kaua'i's north shore.
"There's big sharks here. They cruise through the lineup," where the waves break, said lifeguard Chad Listman, who was staffing the Ha'ena Beach Park lifeguard station yesterday. Fellow lifeguard Bruce Stine said a shark he saw on the reef about 9:30 a.m. yesterday morning appeared to him to be about 12 feet long.
"I noticed four to six turtles in the shallow water, kind of cowering," Stine said.
Honebrink said that when he flew over the area at 1 p.m., there was no large shark visible, but there were lots of turtles — a food source for big sharks.
"They're not hunting people, but they certainly are hunting turtles," said John Naughton, a marine biologist with the National Marine Fisheries Service.
Naughton said that from below, a small surfboard or bodyboard with arms and legs moving on its sides can look like a turtle.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Reach Jan TenBruggencate at jant@honoluluadvertiser.com or (808) 245-3074.
