The state Department of Land and Natural Resources will install buoys to divide the main waterway at Ala Moana Beach Park into two lengthwise corridors as part of a new, voluntary system intended to address rising tensions at the popular ocean-recreation area between swimmers and stand-up paddleboarders.

Representatives from DLNR's Division of Boating and Ocean Recreation presented the plan at a public meeting yesterday at McCoy Pavilion. More than 100 swimmers and paddleboarders turned out to air grievances and discuss ways to remedy what many said has become a dangerous situation in the water.

"It's hazardous out there, especially for old guys like me," said swimmer Fred Trask, 81, of Kailua.

According to representatives from the Division of Boating and Ocean Recreation, the number of stand-up paddleboarders at the beach has dramatically increased over the past two years, and with it the number of complaints the office has fielded from swimmers who say they are being endangered by the large, swift-moving boards.

While the overall area is used for a number of different recreational activities — from wading to surfing to fishing — the increase in stand-up paddleboarders using the same area traditionally reserved for swimmers has resulted in an increase in collisions, near-misses and frayed nerves. Boating Safety Education Specialist Clifford Inn said DLNR hopes to install the buoys on a trial basis within the next two months.

The new plan would create an 80-foot-wide corridor between the buoys and the reef to be used by paddleboarders. The remaining area between the buoys and the beach would be reserved for swimmers.

AIRING GRIEVANCES

The plan elicited general support by those in attendance.

Trask, a former nationally ranked master's swimmer, has been swimming at the beach every Saturday for 40 years. With the recent influx of paddleboarders, he said the time is right to establish some sort of guideline.

"I'm not as fast as I used to be, but I try my best," he said. "Still, I'm very vulnerable. There were some good proposals today, but we need to sit down and evaluate them, not rush to judgment. We have to try it out before we set it down in concrete."

Phil Huaret, 57 of Makiki, said he has had two near-collisions with stand-up paddleboarders. He said yesterday's meeting was a good start, but that "one meeting is not enough" to address the situation.

Huaret has been swimming at the beach for 30 years. While he tries to keep an eye out for paddleboarders, he said that isn't enough.

"In the last year and a half, there has been an inundation (of paddleboarders)," he said. "You can look up, but it's no guarantee that you'll see them. It depends on the time of day and the lighting. They move so fast that they can be right on top of you before you realize it."

Longtime waterman China Uemura, 54, of Salt Lake offers free stand-up paddleboard lessons to people with diabetes as a means of promoting exercise, as well as to novice paddleboarders to prevent dangerous mishaps.

He said it is unfair for swimmers to paint stand-up paddleboarders as "the bad guys," emphasizing that the vast majority of paddleboarders at the beach are responsible contributors to the ocean-using community.

"We're like lifeguards when there are no lifeguards," he said. "If someone is in trouble, we help them out. A lot of paddleboarders also pick up trash on the water."

Several other paddleboarders shared anecdotes of paddleboarders rescuing swimmers and other ocean-users who find themselves in trouble in the water.

TIMELY PLAN

Uemura said he doesn't think regulations are necessary as long as every ocean-user exercises personal responsibility and common courtesy.

"When I give lessons, I always tell people that swimmers have 100 percent right-of-way," he said.

Uemura was one of several who attended the meeting wearing T-shirts that read "Ala Moana Water Maintenance Crew: Sweeping the Park, Spreading Aloha."

State Rep. Tom Brower, D-23rd (Waikiki, Ala Moana), said the ocean recreation area is experiencing "growing pains" that can be alleviated by the proposed plan.

He said the Legislature will look into the issue next session to see if further guidelines need to be established, including a possible provision that would require paddleboarding schools to hold insurance.

"The responsibility is on paddleboarders," he said. "In the event of an accident, it would be similar to the relationship between a car and a pedestrian."

Brower said his office has fielded several complaints from swimmers. He said he doesn't want to prohibit paddleboarders from the area, but would like to see guidelines to encourage greater responsibility on their part.

State Rep. Kymberly Marcos Pine, R-43rd ('Ewa Beach, Iroquois Point, Pu'uloa), said the DLNR plan is timely given the increased beach and ocean use that traditionally occurs over the summer.

Pine, a swimmer and paddleboarder who said she twice has had close calls with inexperienced paddleboarders while swimming, said her office will monitor the situation to see if the plan sufficiently addresses swimmer and paddleboarder concerns.