Keehi watercraft areas might shift

Citing safety concerns, state regulators want to shift where enthusiasts can ride their personal watercraft at Keehi Lagoon — but the proposal already faces resistance from many local canoe paddlers.

State law permits the use of personal Jet Skis and Waverunners, officially dubbed “thrill craft,” in the waters directly south of the Reef Runway. The Division of Boating and Ocean Recreation aims to move that zone farther inward at the lagoon, putting those craft in view of beachgoers in case the riders get in trouble, they say.

They’ve proposed a new zone directly next to the channel between Mokauea and Kahakaaulana islands, which many sailboats and other craft ply to reach the open ocean to the south. The move would not affect the several commercial Jet Ski businesses that operate at Keehi because they have separate zones, according to division officials.

“It became evident … they were not in the best spot,” division Administrator Ed Underwood said Monday of the personal Jet Ski users. Often they stray to the area of the proposed zone, he added.

“We wanted to get it more in line where people are riding now,” Underwood said.

The Department of Land and Natural Resources, which includes the boating division, will hold a public meeting on the issue from 6 to about 8 p.m. Thursday at the Marine Education and Training Center, 10 Sand Island Parkway. The building, on the edge of Sand Island, is near the proposed new zone.

Scores of paddlers with various canoe hui also use the waters in and around Keehi Lagoon to train and compete. Underwood said the proposed new thrill-craft zone is “not anywhere near where the canoe paddlers are,” but he also acknowledged that the division did not consult paddlers there about the location.

Gilbert Silva, head coach with the Keahiakahoe Canoe Club, said the hui at Keehi do in fact use the waters in the proposed zone.

“We train upwind, into the wind. We use that whole area. We cannot be training in one small area,” Silva said Monday. “It’s really sad that they don’t communicate with us before they bring these things up.”

He added, “We’re totally against it. It’s a bad idea.”

Keahiakahoe members intend to attend Thursday’s meeting in large numbers and make their opposition known, Silva said.

Silva said the proposed zone would create its own safety problems. Paddlers and swimmers at Keehi already have to contend with some “renegade” personal watercraft users who stray into the off-limits area next to the Sand Island shoreline, he said.

By contrast, Silva added, the commercial Jet Ski operators are good neighbors who generally stay in their zones near Kahakaaulana.

Underwood said the proposed thrill-craft zone would put the Jet Skis offshore and “out of everybody’s way” while keeping them safely in view of others at Keehi.

But Silva said the state should give more attention to the concerns of the paddling community.

“We’re supposed to be the No. 1 sport in Hawaii, but somehow we always get tossed in the burner,” he said.