A 28-year-old man was attacked by a shark at Leftovers, on Oahu’s North Shore on Tuesday.
“Around 20 (minutes) to 1 p.m. this afternoon, a surfer had sustained some minor lacerations to his foot from an approximately 10-foot shark,” John Hoogsteden, Lieutenant with City and County of Honolulu Ocean Safety and Lifeguard Services told ESPN Surfing photographer, Willi Edwards.
Hoogsteden thought it might be a tiger shark, but added, “We’re not 100 percent certain of the type, but it was a larger shark.”
According to a story in the Honolulu Star Advertiserr, the surfer was Joshua Holley of Waialua.
“It came up and got him and let him go, then came up and got him a second time. He fought it off with his board and got a good look at it,” City and County of Honolulu Ocean Safety and Lifeguard Services Operation Chief Jim Howe told the local paper.
Hawaii County lifeguards re-opened two Kailua-Kona beaches Thursday after a morning flyover found no signs of a large shark in the area. Shark warning signs though will remain posted over the holiday weekend after two women were attacked this week.
A 15 year old Kihei teen was bitten by a shark while body boarding just outside Kahului Harbor Sunday. He was released from the Maui Memorial Medical Center after doctors stitched up wounds to his left leg and foot.
Professional surfer Kai Barger was surfing at the same spot with friends when the teen was attacked.
Barger and fellow surfer Tanner Hendrickson helped the teen to shore. Once they got there they used a leash from one of their boards as a tourniquet to slow the bleeding.
Paramedics tended to the unidentified boy was taken to the hospital for treatment.
Andrew, 46, the older brother of actors Owen and Luke Wilson was bitten on the foot by a shark while surfing with friends in Hawaii earlier this month. The Whip It star was not seriously injured.
He had to get some stitches but was ok otherwise. Actually the paramedics who came said he was more at danger [because his friends] had tied a Blackberry cord around his ankle cutting off the circulation on his foot.
Jim Rawlinson, 68, was catching waves at the point in Hanalei Bay, Kauai Monday at about 4 p.m. when his surfboard was attacked by a large tiger shark.
Rawlinson slid back off the board and onto the back of the shark.
After measuring a bite mark on the tail of Rawlinson’s surfboard the tiger shark was estimated to be 14 feet long.
Rawlinson’s board was attacked about five miles from where Bethany Hamilton lost her arm while surfing a break called Tunnels in October of 2003.
The search by air, sea and land for the missing surfer has been called off as of 3:30 p.m. Thursday after firefighters could not spot any sign of him.
Meanwhile, the shark-warning signs at Laniakea Beach, Papailoa Beach and Chuns Reef were removed at 11:30 a.m. yesterday after Ocean Safety and Lifeguard Services personnel did not spot any sharks in the area.
Firefighters had resumed the search Thursday morning after a resident found a tattered pair of black shorts on Papailoa Beach and called police, who identified the shorts as belonging to the missing surfer. The missing surfer was described as an Asian male in his mid-thirties and was reported to be wearing black shorts.
Three large tiger sharks forced a search team to halt its efforts yesterday to locate and recover the body of a missing swimmer from Northern California who had disappeared from Laniākea Beach in Hawaii on Tuesday evening.
A helicopter spotted the sharks at about 7:30 a.m. near a body that was floating roughly a half mile off Pāpa’iloa Beach.
Lifeguards issued a shark warning and closed all beaches within one mile of the area.
Following ocean safety protocol, the fire department would not allow its rescue divers in the water for a 24-hour period. But the air search continued.
The Visitor Aloha Society of Hawai’i is helping the swimmer’s wife of six years and his family. Visitor Aloha Society of Hawai’i officials described the swimmer as a 35-year-old man from Beijing who was living in Sunnyvale, Calif.
Other family members will arrive from Beijing on Saturday, VASH officials said.
Helicopter pilots described the animals around the swimmer as 12- to 15-foot-long tiger sharks.
Waters off Ho’okipa Beach Park were closed for two hours yesterday after a shark sighting on the north shore of Maui.
The shark was estimated to be a 12-foot tiger shark, and it was spotted at 11:15 a.m. about 150 yards from the surf break.
Ho’okipa, a popular surfing spot, was closed from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. for one mile both north and south of the surfing reef. The beach park remained open.
Warning signs were posted in the area, and no injuries were reported.
A 10-foot shark was spotted at Maili Beach on the west side of Oahu Thursday around 1:30 p.m. by an on-duty police officer.
Bryan Cheplic, public information officer of the Honolulu Emergency Services Department, said lifeguards were informed and they cleared the water and posted warning signs.
Cheplic said a lifeguard patrolling the area did not spot the shark but it is being considered a confirmed sighting. Signs will remain up and lifeguards will reassess the area Friday morning.
