Fatal shark attack
leaves some cautious
KAHANA, Maui >> A fatal shark attack left some West Maui oceangoers cautious yesterday, while others viewed the incident as isolated.
Paula Pope, an organizer of the Kaanapali Klassic swim on May 2, said her group is approaching this year's event with sensitivity to the Wednesday morning attack that killed Willis McInnis, 57, of Napili, in waters off Pohaku Park.
"We're going to try to make this as safe as possible," said Pope, president of the Lahaina Swim Club.
She said organizers plan to have six to eight kayakers in the water along with two lifeguards on watercraft.
State officials lifted a ban on entering a 2-mile stretch of water in West Maui by noon yesterday, after lifeguards on watercraft and a county helicopter crew saw no signs of a shark in the area of the attack.
Friends of McInnis, who died after the shark mangled his right leg, were at Pohaku Park yesterday, consoling themselves and McInnis' son.
McInnis was a member of Hui O Pohaku Park, a group that rides waves at the surfing site known as S Turns.
Several surfers said they would have been back in the water yesterday afternoon but the wind made for poor surfing conditions. Instead, they went surfing south of Lahaina.
Surfer John Vickers said he felt he had a better chance of winning the lottery than being attacked by a shark off Pohaku Park. He added that everybody faces death eventually.
"When it's your time, it's your time," Vickers said.
Pope, meanwhile, said many of the roughly 100 participants who swim 1.2 miles from Hanakao'o Beach Park to Hula Grill at Whalers Village are master swimmers and knowledgeable about the ocean.
"They know the risks," she said. "They swim in the ocean all the time."