Roughwater Swim safety reviewed
By Robbie Dingeman
Advertiser Staff Writer
Organizers of the Waikiki Roughwater Swim will meet with city lifeguards, fire officials and volunteers to see what can be done to prevent a repeat of Monday's mass rescues.
Hundreds of swimmers had to be rescued Monday in a scramble by city lifeguards, the Coast Guard, the Honolulu Fire Department and private vessels when treacherous currents and rough surf proved more than many swimmers could handle. The 34th annual 2.384-mile open-ocean race drew elite and recreational swimmers from around the world.
"We will certainly take another look at all the water-safety issues concerned," Ted Sheppard, Waikiki Roughwater Swim committee president, said yesterday.
Among the options for next year, Sheppard said, might be to start the race earlier or later. Some swimmers complained that the shifting tide and strong current shoved swimmers back to the shore instead of pushing them toward the finish line as in most years. He said a meeting would be held at the end of the week.
The precise number of rescues was hard to pin down yesterday, given the confusion surrounding the event and the number of agencies and private boaters involved. HFD said it made 68 rescues, and the Coast Guard said it made 93. The number of rescues by city lifeguards was undetermined.
HFD Capt. Kenison Tejada said it was a safe assumption to say that a total of at least 260 swimmers had been rescued.
Sheppard said he and other volunteers checked currents, surf size and the tide Monday morning and up to 15 minutes before the 9 a.m. start. He said the volunteers monitored conditions all morning and believed that the race could be held safely.
"When we put the buoys in off-shore, someone gets in the water to check currents," he said.
Sheppard said the conditions were similar to the 1996 and 2000 races, when more than 800 swimmers finished the race and about 100 or so dropped out.
This year, he said, 1,054 people signed up for the race, 947 got in the water and 361 of them finished. The others were either rescued or swam back in without finishing.
"Obviously we would not have had a race if we thought 700 people wouldn't have finished," Sheppard said. "In 34 years, we've never had an incident like this occur."
Sheppard was disappointed by the problems, but happy that there were no serious injuries and that everyone was accounted for.
Tejada said he had no basis for putting a figure to the cost for city firefighters, lifeguards and rescue workers. "There was no unusual cost associated with the rescue," Tejada said. "That's what we're there for; we're there to take care of the people."
Tejada said the winds seemed gusty, but there were no obvious signs of trouble. "The water looked great; the surface of the water looked fine," he said.
At the National Weather Service, lead forecaster Hans Rosendal said yesterday that it wasn't clear whether the race should have been held based on the weather or surf kicked up by what remained of Hurricane Jimena.
"It was just bad luck," Rosendal said. "It was mostly the timing with respect to the tide."
Rosendal said the Roughwater Swim historically provides a challenging race. "If you cancel it because of rough water, it might be embarrassing," he said.
Sheppard thanked the many rescuers who helped pull people to safety, including the city lifeguards, the Honolulu Fire Department, the Coast Guard, and the volunteers of the Coast Guard Auxiliary and the Waikiki Yacht Club.
Ed Lott is among the civilian volunteers of the Coast Guard Auxiliary, working with the Coast Guard to help with water-safety issues such as patrolling the roughwater swim annually. Their people pulled 93 people from the water Monday.
Lott is an experienced waterman, who swam the race himself several times. He said conditions shifted suddenly. "The tide had changed. It changed just before the start; it was incredible," he said.
He said the waters became rougher and the winds stronger. "People in kayaks were turning over," Lott said. But he said some of the swimmers who needed help didn't appear to have trained much for the race.
"This is not a swim across a swimming pool," he said. "This is a strong challenge."
Phil Drips, Waikiki Yacht Club regatta chairman, also helped in the rescues as part of the volunteer race patrols. He said the yacht club provided boats and volunteers.
Drips has done the race himself before and doesn't think that the event should have been canceled because of the weather. "It's called the roughwater swim and they've been doing it for over 30 years," he said.
Drips, who found that the rescue effort ran smoothly, said officials and volunteers should be commended for the overall outcome.
Reach Robbie Dingeman at rdingeman@honoluluadvertiser.com or 535-2429.
