A man who failed in a solo swim from Kaua’i to Ni’ihau last week was scheduled to make the same trip at sunrise today before calling it off last night. Guided by an escort boat this time, 27-year-old Matthew Davidson
A man who failed in a solo swim from Kaua’i to Ni’ihau last week was scheduled to make the same trip at sunrise today before calling it off last night.
Guided by an escort boat this time, 27-year-old Matthew Davidson said he planned to start the 20-mile swim from Queen’s Pond at Barking Sands. But Ni’ihau residents, in a poll taken by representatives of the Robinson family, which owns Ni’ihau, decided they didn’t want him on their island, he said.
Davidson said he respects their wishes. He added, “It’s better this way. I’d like to be prepared better, anyhow.”
Davidson said he planned to swim the channel, in the nude again as he tried last Saturday, to have more freedom in the water and to spread the “spirit of aloha.”
Davidson, who said he still wants to make the swim again, invited other swimmers, kayakers and boat owners to traverse the channel. He wants to make the crossing a yearly event.
For the first crossing, he swam 17 miles before he was spotted by a Coast Guard helicopter in the Kaulakahi Channel between Kaua’i and Ni’ihau before sundown. He was picked up by a Navy helicopter and was later treated at Wilcox Memorial Hospital for hydration and was released.
Davidson said he didn’t fear a shark attack during the first swim because he carried offerings to Hawaiian gods – a shelled fish made by a friend’s son and a tiger-eye stone belonging to his grandfather.
“I am ready to punch (a shark) in the nose if I have to,” Davidson said.
His faith in God also gave him a sense of security, Davidson said.
“Faith is a rare thing these days,” he said. “I put my life in his hands and look what happened. I survived.”
Davidson, a Kaua’i resident, said he initially wanted to begin his swim Saturday from Barking Sands, a crossing that involved only 20 miles. But because there was no one to drive him to Barking Sands, Davidson instead started from Port Allen Harbor, a trip that made the swim 27 miles long.
After he began his swim at about 7 a.m., Davidson said he encountered ocean swells ranging from 10 to 12 feet. He said the height of the waves didn’t intimidate him, only the added distance for the swim.
Davidson said he swam with a bottle of coconut milk hung around his neck and drank from it for nourishment and to ease sores in his mouth from constant exposure to salt water.
He was last seen by the crew of a commercial boat outside Port Allen Harbor at 9:30 a.m. His whereabouts were unknown for the next 10 hours or so.
Davidson said landmarks on Ni’ihau and Kaua’i helped him keep on a steady course to his destination.
Information provided to him by Dr. Michael Murray, who made the same channel crossing last year, also helped, Davidson said.
The first part of the trip was easy because the winds and waves pushed him toward Ni’ihau, Davidson said. The journey became more difficult when the “current stopped, the water ebbed and the water collided,” he said.
He ended up swimming in circles for a while but was able to continue his swim to Ni’ihau when the current changed, he said.
Davidson’s father, in San Francisco’s bay area, called the Coast Guard at around 8 a.m. last Friday for help after his son told him of his plans to swim to Ni’ihau.
A search got underway and involved two Coast Guard helicopters, a C-130 aircraft and a small search boat from the Coast Guard station at Nawiliwili. The Kaua’i County Fire Department initiated a ground search around Hanapepe Bay.
Davidson said he was about 10 miles from Ni’ihau when he was spotted by a military helicopter at 6 p.m. The helicopter, which hovered 50 feet above, whipped the water, creating droplets that felt “like bullets pelting me,” forcing him to dive underwater, Davidson said.
Personnel aboard a Navy helicopter from Pacific Missile Range Facility on Kaua’i offered to take him back to shore. But Davidson waved them off, motioning that he intended to swim to Ni’ihau.
“I had no doubts in my mind of where I was going,” he said. “I had no death wish.”
A Navy man who was lowered from the helicopter eventually convinced Davidson to be airlifted to Barking Sands.
“I only went because he was so kind. He let me have some clothes to wear,” Davidson said.
Staff writer Lester Chang can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 226) and mailto:lchang@pulitzer.net
