I'm windsurfing along well inside the reef at Kanaha uppers, 25-35 mph day. I hear a call for help up wind but can't see anyone, I tack and actually make it, sail upwind, botch next tack, sail up wind more and there is a camo clad snorkel diver yelling for help and now yelling shark. The swimmer who was on his way out to help turns around at the wored shark and heads back to beach(smartly). I pull up next to the diver ( about 100 yards off beach of beginner windsurf cove), drop sail, and ask if he is bleeding, he says no, I ask if he was bit, he says yes, he looks very scared and nervous. I tell him to stay close to the board, hold footstrap and we make way to the beach with me in water under sail scissor kicking and feathering sail for a bit of power (wind very up down messy in there). We make it to about 1/2 way to beach and a gracious paddle board foiler comes to help. I grab his leash and we make faster headway with paddler sitting on his board. We get to beach and I stand up in about 2 feet of water and there is the shark ( i guess 6 feet and not tiger from what I can tell), struggling/churning to get at something underwater at the tail of my board near diver. There are a few people on the beach now there and we all yell **** get out the water! The diver is kinda struggling to get out of the water and we realize why......he is tied off to and dragging a 4-5 foot spear gun with a stringer of about 6 fish about 1 ft long tied off to the end of the spear gun! We so called rescuers wail OMG WTF, you said nothing about the fish! Lifeguards show up on jet ski now and want to know if anyone is hurt, luckily NO, and they head off to find his dive partner upwind who turns out was on the beach at this point.
So, the diver says thanks, gives paddler and I a fist bump and marches off with his about 25 lb of fish all intact and no fish for us. Well, in retrospect, I can't help but to feel used to help him save his fish. If he had just fed the shark the fish, none of this would have happened I suspect. Any thoughts from spear fishing / windsurf folks out their? I would love to be wrong about feeling used.
Rescue was completely avoidable if he abandoned the fish, he put you in unnecessary danger for his gain.
It's a real mission to rescue someone when you're on a windsurfer. You hope he doesn't do that again.
Not all bad if you're in Maui 
That's lame.
I had a moment yesterday. Was before a few other people got out but there was a dinghy race earlier. One other windsurfer foiling, I was on a fin. Lost track of the foiler for a bit, then I saw a lot of movement out of the support boats. Saw the foiler's sail and board just floating, not too far from shore, but didn't see the rider anywhere. Started to get really worried for him, wondering what happened. Saw a support boat headed towards his floating gear while I was heading that way almost dead downwind kind of slow.
We had a recent death in the state, about 2 hours away, of a windsurfer and I was hoping that he was okay. Thankfully he was. He must've gotten separated from his gear and he got scooped up by one of the support boats and taken back. Was really glad it wasn't serious.
Sailwave, even if the rescuee was not at all grateful, I'm pretty sure the universe was grateful for your actions. Call it karma. You have a positive karma account now. Someday you will need some help, and hopefully your positive points will come to bear.
A couple months ago I helped a guy who could not get back to his van. He had launched out of Arlington OR, sailed for a while, then the wind died. He body dragged in to Roosevelt WA (directly across the river) just fine. I gave him and his gear a 70 mile ride down to the bridge at Maryhill then back up to Arlington. When he tried to pay me in money or a case of beer, I said no, I'll take the karma points.
A few days ago I cashed in those points when I lost my wallet. I had left it in a store the day before. When I drove back to the store, the clerk handed me the wallet. Nothing missing. A customer had seen it on the floor and had given it to the clerk. Yes, there are some honest people out there.
