Maui big wave break overrun by daredevils, onlookers

By: Associated Press | Wednesday, November 30, 2005 6:08 PM PST ∞

OPANA POINT, Hawaii -- Safety officials and surfers are looking for ways to deal with the seasonal onslaught of surfers yearning to ride the giant waves on the north shore of Maui.

As waves roared seven-stories high at the now famous break known as Jaws on Dec. 15 last year, the area was besieged by daredevils -- some of them novices -- looking to catch a monster wave and the $1,000 per foot award offered by the surf company Billabong.

In 2004, the award was $68,000, won as five helicopters carried professional photographers through the air and thousands of spectators clambered around the 200-foot cliffs above the ocean.

"We were afraid that someone was going to die," Rodney Kilborn, a surf promoter and longtime firefighter, told The Maui News.

What seemed to have been a narrow miss with tragedy has sparked an active debate among big-name surfers over a practice called tow-in surfing.

Until about 15 years ago, a surfer's skill at paddling out into the ocean dictated which waves he could ride. But the advent of tow-in surfing -- two-man teams dragging each other into big waves on the back of a Jet Ski -- has changed all that.

While the waves at Jaws were once braved by only the most seasoned of big wave surfers, last year there were 70 of the machines out on the water.

The tramping crowds of onlookers have also taken their toll on nearby crops. Maui Land & Pineapple Co. lost a quarter of its crop a year ago. And vehicles clogged the dirt roads to the site never meant for high traffic. One vehicle was set on fire.

"This situation -- with crowds and no crowd management -- is the situation for which we may have to establish some kind of physical restrictions," said Jason Koga, the company's land and environmental manager of A&B Properties, which leases the land to Maui Land & Pineapple.

Several years ago Hawaii began certifying tow-in surfers with classes. But the certifications don't test surfers' skills in the water.

County water ocean safety supervisor Archie Kalepa says the classes need to go further.

"This (tow-in surfing) goes beyond surfing -- surfing is probably only half the skill. You've got to have water knowledge, Jet Ski knowledge, rescue knowledge and knowledge of the area," said Kalepa, who is also a respected big-wave rider.

He said he'd also like to see Billabong send the competition elsewhere for a few years after a win.

Some surfers are also talking about creating an organization and safety criteria to self-police the treacherous sport.

"Nobody likes rules and regulation, not even me, but something has to happen," said Kilborn, who is an advisory board member of the fledgling organization Association of Professional Tow Surfers. "People have to get involved or we could lose our sport, we could lose our respect and credibility."

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