Holt Blanchard, whose quick-thinking reactions saved 13-year-old Bethany Hamilton’s life when she was attacked by a shark at Tunnels October 31, said that he will never be the same after the event that changed his family’s life. “It’s been hard
Holt Blanchard, whose quick-thinking reactions saved 13-year-old Bethany Hamilton’s life when she was attacked by a shark at Tunnels October 31, said that he will never be the same after the event that changed his family’s life.
“It’s been hard the whole time,” said Blanchard in a phone interview yesterday, a month and a half after the attack. “With us, it’s been really hard. We were all 15 feet away, and to witness that… I’m still feeling that. It’s hard to describe.”
As the media blitz surrounding Bethany, and her best friend and Blanchard’s daughter, Alana, 13, dies down, the family has tried to return to the surfing lifestyle they had before the attack.
Alana, who finished fourth in the National Scholastic Surf Federation, surfed in her first contest since the attack last weekend at Pinetrees in Hanalei. Blanchard said the results were not spectacular, but expected because Alana caught the flu when in New York doing media events.
But although Alana or her father have not surfed Tunnels since the attack, they were only out of the water for about three days.
“She’s doing pretty well,” Blanchard said of his daughter. While she still experiences some shark dreams, she’s been surfing through them. Blanchard said there are some places that, so far, Alana has not been willing to surf. All of them, like Hideaways, Chicken Wings, Middles, and Tunnels, are outside reef breaks far from shore.
“I have to keep her going,” said Blanchard.
One thing that has changed has been the daily, dawn patrol sessions that Alana, Bethany, and Blanchard had before the attack.
Remembering the laughter and mirth, listening to the stereo on the way to a surf spot has changed, he said.
While the three, and other members of the two families, have surfed together, (including Tuesday in Hanalei Bay), Blanchard and Alana have been surfing some waves Bethany can’t get into on her longboard, like Kalihiwai and Canons, he said.
“They were two peas in a pod, surfing together. They went to every contest together,” said Blanchard of the girls. “Everyone thinks they’re sisters.”
“For now, Bethany can’t surf spots we used to surf,” said Blanchard, although he expects she probably will when she gets a prosthesis.
As for Blanchard, he will surf Tunnels again.
“I haven’t surfed it yet, but I’ll be back out there when the time is right, when it starts getting good again,” he said.
And the family has been seeing a psychiatrist to help them through this trauma, Blanchard said.
“The thing that’s kind of stick in my mind is that they were laughing, giggling, having fun,” said Blanchard, “and it changed in one second. It’s something you have no control over.”
Alana being young, “it’s so tragic” to her, he said. “Her attitude is really incredible.”
As for being the family of heroes, “I don’t really feel like I am,” he said. “It was just a reaction.
“Byron or I or Alana didn’t feel like we did anything. We just did what had to be done. I wasn’t even thinking about being a hero,” he said.
Reliving the shark attack, he said the best thing that he did was getting Bethany to the beach as quickly as possible.
“When I first saw (the blood), I thought she was going to die,” said Blanchard. “None of us were thinking about the shark.”
He first took off his rash guard, like a heavy T-shirt, and applied it to her arm as a tourniquet, he said, “but there was not much to tie it to.”
He then pushed her into a wave. Blanchard’s son, Byron, 15, also caught the wave and stayed with her as they went through the impact zone, where the waves were breaking.
But then came the channel, a deep stretch of water that separates the outside reef and the beach.
Blanchard said he caught up to Bethany and Byron, and Byron paddled in to call 911. Blanchard said he re-tied the rash guard to her arm, as it had come loose through the waves.
But, to his surprise, he said it was not bleeding very badly.
With Bethany holding on to his boardshorts, Blanchard paddled in to the beach.
It was there he used his rubber surf leash as a tourniquet, he said.
The paddle in took about 15 to 20 minutes, he said.
One thing that, he says, was Providential is the two had been surfing Tunnels the night before. They were the last two to come in, and looking back, if the attack came the night before, it would’ve been hard for Alana to get Bethany back to the beach by herself.
Blanchard said he is also relieved that they caught what he says is the shark that bit Bethany.
A 13-foot, 6-inch tiger shark was hauled in Thursday, November 12 at Hanalei Bay by Bill Hamilton and Ralph Young, veteran Hanalei surfers and fishermen. Blanchard said that the teeth marks perfectly match the bite marks on Bethany’s board.
The two fishermen said began their hunt for the shark on Tuesday night following about a 10-day period of ongoing reports of a large tiger shark cruising surf spots in and around Hanalei Bay.
“They caught the shark,” said Blanchard. “Maybe that shark was a little too inquisitive” or diseased that caused it to chase people rather than eating other sharks as it usually does, he said.
“They just dealt with that particular one. They were not on rampage,” he said. “They killed one shark.”
“I’m glad that (one) is gone. I feel better” with shark out of area, with 3 kids surfing around there, he said.
Asked why the media has latched on to Bethany’s story, Blanchard said it’s both what happened and how she’s handled it.
“Everybody is fascinated with shark attacks,” said Blanchard. “Bethany being only 13 and heading to be a pro surfer, it’s kind of a great story for the media. Plus, her attitude has been incredible.”
Another thing he has noticed, judging by the questions Bethany’s been asked, is about the fact she has lost a limb. People are fascinated by that as well, he said.
But the Princeville girl is definitely noticeable off-island now.
When Blanchard and his daughter traveled to New York with the Hamiltons for a bunch of media events last week, people recognized Bethany in the street.
“When we were in New York, walking around, people would stop us, and say really nice things to her 3,4,5 time a day,” he said. “It was always nice, they said she was an inspiration.”
“She’s a celebrity, like a movie star almost,” he added.
While the Blanchards have not received that kind of recognition, if it weren’t for them, Bethany might not be doing television spots at all.
Staff Writer Tom Finnegan may be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 252) or mailto:tfinnegan@pulitzer.net
