Off-duty Hawaii lifeguard helps rescue teen who spent more than 11 hours clinging to kayak

A teenager in Hawaii was recovering Friday after spending more than 11 hours clinging to a kayak before being rescued during an overnight ocean search by an off-duty lifeguard and the US Coast Guard.

Kahiau Kawai, 17, had gotten separated from his high school paddling team on Wednesday after capsizing approximately half a mile south of Honolulu’s Sheraton Waikiki Beach Resort. 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 the state, city and federal rescue teams who searched through the night, with a “very special mahalo” to family, friends and the the Honolulu lifeguard who went out on his own to search for the teen.

“Kahiau, who could see rescue teams looking for him, was strong, resilient and brave 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 statement.

The teenager’s Kamehameha Schools teammates reported him missing during kayaking practice Wednesday afternoon, the school said in a statement.

At about 4 a.m. Thursday, a Coast Guard airplane crew located the kayak with the teen clinging to it and deployed a flare to mark his position off Waikiki.

Off-duty lifeguard Noland Keaulana, a Polynesian voyager and part of a well-known Native Hawaiian waterman family, had been searching through the night on a boat.

The Coast Guard directed him to the flare.

“I was expecting the worst, and then when I seen his head up next to the kayak … his family is lucky and this kid is strong,” Keaulana said at a news conference Thursday. “I think he was in total shock because he wasn’t emotional at all. And I was actually crying my guts out because he was OK.”

The boy was treated for injuries and hypothermia and taken to an emergency room. He was in serious but stable condition, the Coast Guard said.