HONOLULU– A teenager in Hawaii was recovering Friday after clinging to a kayak for more than 11 hours before being rescued during a nighttime ocean search by an off-duty lifeguard and the U.S. Coast Guard.
Kahiau Kawai, 17, was separated from his high school paddling team on Wednesday after capsizing about a half-mile (0.80 kilometers) south of the Sheraton Waikiki Beach Resort in Honolulu. He was on a 20-foot kayak and was not wearing a life jacket, the Coast Guard said.
Kawai’s parents in a statement thanked state, city and federal rescue teams who searched through the night, with a “very special mahalo” to family, friends and the Honolulu lifeguard who single-handedly searched for the teen.
“Kahiau, who could see rescue teams searching for him, was strong, resilient and courageous for 11.5 hours in the dark, and is grateful to be back with his family and friends,” Ka’ala and Kelehua Kawai said in the declaration.
The teen’s Kamehameha Schools teammates reported him missing during kayak practice Wednesday afternoon, the school said in a statement.
About 4 a.m. Thursday, a Coast Guard aircrew located the kayak with the teen attached to it and deployed a flare to mark its position near Waikiki.
Noland Keaulana, an off-duty lifeguard, a Polynesian traveler and member of a well-known native Hawaiian watermen family, had been searching all night on a boat. The Coast Guard sent him to the flare.
“I expected the worst, and when I saw his head next to the kayak… his family is lucky and this boy is strong,” Keaulana said on a press conference Thursday. “I think he was in total shock because he wasn’t emotional at all. And I actually cried because he was okay.”
The boy was treated for injuries and hypothermia and taken to the emergency room. His condition was serious but stable, the Coast Guard said.