On Oct. 15th, Noland Keaulana received an alert on his phone about a missing 17 year old.
The report said they went missing off the Honolulu coast.
Keaulana’s wife called him, breaking the news that the missing person was their friend’s
son.This news left him contemplating whether to join the search. He had been a lifeguard for 16
years before this. His experience and integrity led him to the decision, “I knew I couldn’t waste
any more time,” Keaulana told reporters.
By the time the searchers had made it to the ocean Kahiau Kawai (The missing boy) had
already been struggling for hours. The current kept dragging him out and wearing him down as
time passed. They would need to hurry to come back to shore with a smile.
Kahiau was out in the ocean from a school kayaking event earlier in the evening. “It was
pretty rough out there, the waves were super strong and I just couldn’t fight the current. When
the sun started setting and I was going further out as it got darker, that’s when I started to
worry,” Kahiau stated.
He had lost his paddle making his problem greater. He ended up swimming beside the
kayak, keeping it with him. He would alternate swimming and taking a rest on the kayak. He
yelled hoping a nearby boat would hear his calls for help though they were never answered, no
boats were close enough to hear a word.
Kahiau could make out a search helicopter looking for him but they never came out as
far as he was. He was left there by his lonesome for 12 hours. It wasn’t till 4 a.m. Thursday a
helicopter had located his kayak and him clinging onto it. The helicopter shot a flare calling all
nearby boats to the scene. “Boom, he just appeared right in my sight. He’s treading water and
hanging on to the midsection of the kayak, and I see his head above the water, and I’m like,
wait, is he alive?”said Keaulana . “Then I yelled out ‘Kahiau?’ and when he said, ‘Yes,’ super
calm, I just broke down crying.”
