Surfer upbeat despite
attack by shark

Mike Coots lost his right foot
in the encounter yesterday

By Trish Moore
Star-Bulletin

MAJORS BAY, Kauai -- Minutes after a shark chewed off champion bodyboarder Mike Coots' right leg at mid-calf, he was apologizing to a hospital official about "getting sand all over."

Shay Bintliff, who heads the emergency room at Kauai Veterans Hospital, said Coots is "an incredible, very together young man. He came very close to looking death right in the face."

Bintliff said Coots spread his hands about two feet when describing the width of the shark's head.

Coots, 18, of Kalaheo, Kauai, who paddled his board back to shore after the attack, was in fair condition yesterday afternoon at Wilcox Hospital in Lihue, after three hours of surgery, said orthopedic specialist Thomas Grollman. He also suffered multiple wounds on his right hand and left foot.

Coots, a 1997 Kapaa High School graduate, was training as a member of the Kauai Classic Pro-Am Christian bodyboarding team, said Robert Sato, the team's coach and founder.

Sato was on shore shooting video of the bodyboarders.

At the emergency room in Waimea, Sato said, Coots was bright-eyed and "asked me, 'Did you get it on tape?'"

"It blows me away. He was sorry it was an inconvenience to everybody," Sato said.

Coots was about 150 yards offshore in 3- to 4-foot surf when he was attacked about 7:20 a.m. by a shark of undetermined size.

Reggie DeRoos, lying on a surfboard in the murky water 15 feet away from the attack, said he saw thrashing and Coots pushing something in the water.

At first DeRoos thought it was a manta ray because the body was so wide.

Then he saw the shark's fin pop out of the water.

"It was five or six seconds, then it was over," DeRoos said. "He got on his Boogieboard and popped his leg up. There was no foot. It was severed at his calf muscle."

DeRoos said he and Coots began paddling toward shore at the same time. "He outpaddled me," DeRoos said.

Keith Karasic was sitting on the beach with some friends when he saw a "bunch of people scattering from the water, paddling and kicking furiously to get out."

Karasic watched two of Coots' buddies carry him out of the water and "from a couple of hundred yards away I could see that he didn't have a foot."

Professional bodyboarder Kyle Maligro wrapped a Boogieboard leash around Coots' thigh to stem the bleeding.

Grollman said that probably saved Coots' life.

Coots was placed in the bed of Karasic's pickup truck and driven to Kauai Veterans Hospital in Waimea, where emergency doctors stabilized him before transferring him to Wilcox.

Grollman said once Coots' right leg heals, he'll be able to use a prosthetic.

"Only if you know him well will you be able to tell he has a wooden leg," Grollman said.

Coots' right hand, used to fight off the shark, suffered some nerve damage and will be treated next week at Queen's Hospital in Honolulu, Grollman said.

Coots won the junior national championship bodyboarding contest in New Zealand two years ago, said his mother, Karla Bailey.

State parks officials put up warning signs on beaches at the Pacific Missile Range Facility and at nearby Polihale State Park, and guards at the base are warning beach-goers about the shark attack, said a spokeswoman for the Department of Land and Natural Resources.

Randy Honebrink, education coordinator for the department, said there are no plans to hunt down the shark because there's no evidence they would find the fish in the area.