When a surfer in waters off Makaha Beach on Wednesday afternoon thought he heard someone yelling for help, he quickly scanned the horizon and caught a glimpse of an arm waving above the water about 200 to 250 yards offshore.
G-No Opfer, 45, then paddled hard to reach a shark attack victim — a 51-year-old swimmer, known among the beach’s regulars as “Auntie Lulu.” Opfer spotted a large gash across her right arm, shoulder and torso.
“It was bad,” he said. “It was stuff like you only see in videos.”
Opfer said he was then amazed by the woman’s composure as she told him she was losing a lot of blood. “She wasn’t screaming. She wasn’t freaking out.”
The surfer moved her to his short board and called a nearby surfer, Danny Boro, 40, to help. After the pair transferred the woman to Boro’s longboard, lifeguards responding to the scene met them in the water and paddled the woman to shore on a rescue board.
On the beach, paramedics took over with advanced life support and transported the woman in serious condition to a hospital, according to an Emergency Medical Services report.
One beachgoer said he had noticed the woman swimming about 300 yards off the middle of the beach when he arrived in the area about two hours before the 2:30 p.m. rescue. “She was quite far out,” said Maili resident David Sucher, noting that the offshore area is frequented by snorkelers on a dive boat.
Lokene Fao, a lifeguard who has been stationed at Makaha Beach for 15 years, said the woman is a Makaha resident and a frequent swimmer at the beach. Although he did not know her full name, Fao said, “The whole beach knows her as Auntie Lulu.” He added, “She’s been coming out here for years.”
After the rescue, lifeguards posted shark warning signs and cleared the water. The beach will be reassessed this morning.
Boro, a surf instructor at Pokai Bay, said he suspects that a tiger shark bit the woman. After the lifeguards met them in the water, he said he had an eerie feeling, turned around and, “I saw this big fin.”
The incident marked the fifth shark attack in the state this year, and the first on Oahu in 2016. Three occurred on Maui and one on Kauai this year, and none involved a fatal injury.
The last shark attack at Makaha Beach occurred in late October. In that incident, a young boy on a bodyboard was bitten on the leg at about 2:50 p.m. about 50 to 60 feet from shore.
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Star-Advertiser reporter Gary T. Kubota contributed to this report.
