I couldn't agree with a Sept. 28 letter writer more that the lifeguards need raises, but I am actually one of the lifeguards who wanted swim buoys on the south shore.
There have been many close calls along the Kamaole beaches when novice, seasonal or uninformed boaters come out of Kihei boat ramp and head north. Because of the shoreline contours, they sometimes unwittingly speed dangerously close to these swimming beaches.
Enforcement has been nearly impossible because up until now there have been no markers for the boater or for witnesses to judge just how close the boat was.
Now, with the newly installed swim buoys, there is a definitive line of sight. A boat traveling unsafely within the boundary set by the buoys is easily identified and it takes the guesswork out of whether or not they operated the vessel too close to shore.
The swim buoys are not intended as markers to designate safe swimming distances, but rather as a marker showing unsafe boating distances.
Kekai Brown
Makawao
