[ OUR OPINION ]

Benefits of surfing
wipe out the risks

THE ISSUE Liability issues prevent the Department of Education from recognizing surfing as a sport in schools.

PUBLIC school officials wary of lawsuits spurn surfing as a recognized sport for students, but the current "underground" manner in which students participate in contests and meets could lead to liability claims nonetheless. The Department of Education should resolve the legal issues so that wave riders who want to represent their schools can do so above board.

Every sport -- even tame ones like golf -- holds risks for participants, but if the department has managed to clear away liability problems for injuries in a full-contact game like football, it can surely do the same for surfing.

Superintendent Patricia Hamamoto, in a memo to school officials, contends that ocean conditions make surfing too dangerous. "Students would be out in nature where there is no control over the environment," she says, citing unpredictability of waves and sharks. However, reasonable precautions, careful site selection and training in ocean skills would lower the risks. Linda Robb, the former Hawaii director of the National Scholastic Surfing Association, tells the Star-Bulletin's Craig Gima that in all the contests the group has had in the past 25 years, there has never been a single injury. The DOE's authority would allow even closer supervision and guidelines for participants and surf meets.

Young people gain valuable skills when they take part in sports. They learn perseverance through hours of practice, acquire mental fortitude and develop personal responsibility. Physical benefits are also important, more so as child obesity rates continue to swell.

The department does not let surfing students say they represent schools in contests or use school names and logos when they organize surf clubs, but because the clubs themselves are permitted, schools could still face liability.

Education officials should not let their fear of sharks -- ocean or legal predators -- supplant a legitimate sporting activity, especially one that originated in Hawaii.

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Sea change in works
for ocean transport

THE ISSUE A local company comes up with a unique ship design that looks promising for military and civilian development.

AN experimental ship design by a Hawaii company holds promise not only for development by the U.S. Navy, but for use in civilian water craft. Whatever comes from Navatek Ltd.'s innovative blueprint, the company's successful undertaking is a bright economic light for the state.

Navatek this week displayed its technological design, called HYSWAC or Hybrid Small Waterplane Area Craft, a mouthful to describe a vessel with a unique device that can stabilize transport across swelling ocean surfaces.

The company spent $12 million of a $17.5 million Navy contract in Hawaii to draw up the design and to fit it to a Navy vessel, employing 40 scientists and construction workers at Honolulu Shipyard. It will follow up the design work with a study for defense contractor Northrop Grumman to see how it may be used for the Navy's "Littoral Combat Ship" project, which seeks to develop nimble vessels to support naval forces in near-shore and inland areas.

In addition to its military potential, the key element of Navatek's design could also be applied in passenger boats, such as ferries to run between islands, according to Michael Schmicker, Navatek vice president for business development. A wing-like device contains flaps that receive computer-assisted commands that position the ship so that a vessel's hull hovers above water level. The uplifted positioning would allow smooth sailing across choppy waters like the Kaiwi Channel between Oahu and Molokai.

Intra-island and interisland ferry systems have long been a dream for state officials, businesses and residents looking for options to expensive air transportation. In the 1970s, hydrofoils sailed between Oahu and Maui and to the Big Island, but service ended due to unrelated financial problems. More recently, ferry trials took more than 1,100 commuters a week from Leeward Oahu to downtown for free, but when a $3 fee was charged, the number of riders dropped.

Despite past failures, ferry systems may become economically viable, maybe even vital, as Hawaii's interisland airlines cut flights and increase ticket prices in their struggle to stay profitable and as traffic problems worsen with commercial and housing expansion in Central and Leeward Oahu.

Navatek's Schmicker says what is necessary to push Hawaii's efforts forward are mass transit subsidies from the federal government and officials could make a good argument for such grants.

The state will open a new ferry terminal at Pier 19 this summer, which some view as optimistic in present circumstances. However, as new technology like Navatek's develop and the need for travel options grows, officials should not be deterred. If the Navy sees potential in Navatek's design, why shouldn't the state?