52-year-old channel swimmer Paul Leonard from Tarporley, Cheshire (Great Britain, 51, MSF bio here) was far from home.
He had started his Molokai Channel crossing at 4:29 pm at South Pāpōhaku Beach on Molokai Island.
His goal?
Somewhere along the eastern coastline of Oahu, 45 kilometers away.
Trained by Tim Denyer and his team at the Red Top Swimming Club, Leonard had experienced a lot of successes since his first attempt of the English Channel in September 2022 with a 12 hour 39 minute crossing. He followed that swim with a 3 hour 24 minute Strait of Gibraltar crossing in April 2023, then an 8 hour 38 minute 20 Bridges Swim around Manhattan Island four months later in August, a 11 hour 24 minute crossing of the Catalina Channel in August, a 8 hour 45 minute crossing of the Cook Strait in January 2024, a 9 hour 15 minute crossing of the Bristol Channel in June 2024, and a tough 12 hour 30 minute crossing of the North Channel in August of last year.
He is a veteran.
So Leonard was ready, physically and mentally. All systems were go with his team and escort boat pilot Michael Twigg-Smith at the helm.
After four hours, Leonard had already covered 12 km, but Twigg-Smith was a bit worried as a current had pushed him 659 meters North of the rhumb line. He reported, “The current is becoming stronger over the last half an hour. Onward we push.”
Before 11 pm, Twigg-Smith was worried, “The current is steady about 3.5 km per hour pushing to the North. We are now 5 km North of rhumb line. We may get to Alaska before we get to Oahu.”
An hour later just before midnight, Leonard realized perhaps the greatest fear a marathon swimmer could have. It was dark, a bit past midnight, and something had just bitten him in the water. He could not see what it was, but his crew assumed it was a cookiecutter shark. They did not initially know for sure. But it was clear that an emergency of the highest priority was on hand and that Leonard needed to be rushed to a hospital and receive medical care.
It was a cookiecutter shark that had bitten Leonard on his left foot just below his ankle.
Escort kayaker Jeff Villinger was next to him in the darkness. Villinger radioed Twigg-Smith on the boat as Leonard was yelling in pain. Leonard swam away from the kayak and swimming straight for the boat. Twigg-Smith immediately recognized the situation and swung his boat right in front of Leonard who quickly got out of the water.
Thankfully, Leonard had quickly kicked the cookiecutter shark off his foot, averting a deeper and potentially more dangerous bite.
Twigg-Smith recalled, “The incident happened just before midnight. It was very dark out with no moon and very few stars, kinda overcast with no wind. But the seas were a little unsettled. A current from the South had pushed us about 7 km North of the rhumb line. Paul was in the boat in less than a minute.
Paul swam to the boat as I approached.
I had put on a fresh Shark Shield on at 9:30 pm so apparently it was not effective against this type of fish.
We were back at Ala Wai Harbor just before 2 am, where my wife met us and took Paul and [Red Top Swimming coach] Matt Duggan to Queen’s Hospital in Honolulu.
He is in good spirits, mentioning he will be back later this year after he does Tsugaru in August.“
Incredible.
Talk about tough. Talk about a passion for channel swimming.
Leonard received 13 stitches – but exited the hospital with a huge smile [shown above]. By 7 am, Duggan said they were back at their hotel resting.
Leonard had applied a thick layer of slippery anti-sting Sting No More gel all over his body, but it was not applied to his feet.
Twigg-Smith noted, “This is the first time I have had a deep flesh wound on a swimmer. Paul is number 87 out of the swimmers I have escorted over the last 12 years.”
Shark encounters in the Molokai Channel have been noted since International Marathon Swimming Hall of Famer Greta Andersen attempted a Molokai Channel crossing in 1958. Towards the end of her attempt, she was reluctantly forced out due to tiger sharks. In 2019, Twigg-Smith escorted three Molokai Channel swimmers in a single season who had encountered or were bitten by sharks during a five-month period: Adherbal de Oliveira of Brazil, Eric Schall and Isaiah Mojica, both of the USA.
Dr. Steve Minaglia and Melodee Liegl wrote in their research paper, Moonless night sky increases Isistius species (cookiecutter shark) and live human contact, “The two species of cookiecutter sharks, Isistius brasiliensis and Isistius plutodus (Isistius spp.) are best known for the characteristic wound they leave on their prey items and for their “hit and run” feeding behavior recently witnessed by live humans. These pelagic sharks remove circular plugs of flesh by sucking onto their prey using specialized pharyngeal muscles and fleshy lips, inserting their upper jaw teeth, and sweeping their proportionately larger lower jaw teeth through the flesh often twisting in a circular motion to remove and ingest their feed. The resultant circular, concave wound is a characteristic sign of an Isistius spp. bite. Cookiecutter sharks are thought to undertake diel vertical migrations with a daytime depth range between 1,000–3,500 meters in primarily warm, coastal waters near islands. They typically rise near the surface at night to feed on squid, small fish, and a variety of large pelagic species and then return to the bathyal zone when daylight resumes. They possess a well-developed lateral line system, bioluminescence, and large eyes that give them a competitive advantage over their prey especially in low-light settings.”
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