[ OUR OPINION ]

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Kauai teen inspires
through spirit, optimism

THE ISSUE A 13-year-old girl lost her left arm while surfing off Kauai's Makua Beach, but she is reported to be recovering and in good spirits.

BETHANY Hamilton faces the biggest wave of the young champion surfer's life, but she leaves no doubt that she will conquer it. The 13-year-old Princeville girl displayed unimaginable calm after losing her left arm to a tiger shark off Kauai, and two days later talked with optimism to a friend about mounting a surfboard once again. Her remarkable perseverance has been an inspiration to surfers and nonsurfers alike about the dividends to be had from superb athleticism, a positive spirit and youthful fearlessness.

Those qualities already had made Hamilton one of the world's top young surfers and runner-up in the National Scholastic Surfing Association's national championship in California over competitors up to twice her age, earning her sponsorships from surfwear companies. However, her handling of the ordeal last Friday transcended surfing and brought unprecedented awe, landing her story on national television news programs and the front page of The New York Times.

Hamilton, her best friend and fellow champion Alana Blanchard, also 13, and Holt Blanchard, Alana's father, were in calm water about a thousand yards off Makua Beach, known to surfers as Tunnels Reef, along Kauai's north shore, when the attack occurred about 7:30 a.m. "I got attacked by a shark," Hamilton calmly told Holt Blanchard.

"It was strange; she just made a statement," he said. "She was the only one who saw the shark." She remained conscious throughout the ordeal, as Blanchard made a life-saving tourniquet from a surfing leash and bound the four-inch section of her upper arm bone with his T-shirt. She held his leg as he swam back to shore.

Hamilton was reported in stable condition soon after being taken by ambulance to Wilcox Memorial Hospital. Later in the day, her optimism was irrepressible. "She told one of her friends that she's glad this happened to her, 'because now I can tell the whole world about God,'" said brother Tim, 17.

Those who know Bethany Hamilton are as confident as she is about her comeback. "The personality expresses itself inside the wave, and hers was just blossoming," said Suzanne Bollin, 55. "That girl has saltwater in her veins."

David Rovinsky, an orthopedic surgeon, envisions his patient returning to the waves. Surfboards and prosthetic devices can be modified for her, and "she'll be able to do 95 percent of what she wants to do," he said. "She's an extremely strong woman. Knowing Bethany, it's not going to slow her down too much."

Indeed, with her runner-up trophy beside her in a hospital room, Bethany Hamilton was talking Sunday about wanting to surf again. "We're going to get her back on a short board," said Alana Blanchard. The Hamilton family has launched a Web site, www.bethanyhamilton.com, to ask for support in taking on the challenge of the biggest wave.