Imagine for a moment that you went kayaking and suddenly found yourself drifting to open ocean. That's when happened to one teenage kayaker. 17-year-old Kahiau Kawai realized that he was in trouble when he felt the strong current of the water pulling him out to sea.
He ended up spending 12 hours lost off the coast of Hawaii. Now, he's opening up about the terrifying ordeal. An off-duty lifeguard ended up rescuing the kayaker on Thursday October 17. Kawai was part of his high school paddling team. But he got separated from the rest of them when his boat capsized. The incident happened a half mile south of Honolulu's Sheraton Waikiki Beach Resort.
At the time, the kayaker wasn't wearing a lifejacket. He ended up losing his paddle and was unable to get back into the boat. At one point, Kawai failed to flag down a passing boat. He tried to avoid panicking as he realized he was lost at sea and being pulled out further by the current.
"I knew at a certain point that I wasn't really going to be able to fight the current, so I just tried to relax and keep my calm," Kawai told CNN.
The kayaker had to battle the elements and the constant cold.
Kayaker Survives
"I was constantly shivering," the teen told KITV. He tried to think of the warmth of the rising sun. "I pretty much just thought of how it would feel when the sun came up and like the sun was shining like on my skin."
During one harrowing moment, Kawai saw helicopters, but they were too far away.
"I saw them go to a certain point a bunch of times but they weren't going as far out as I was and that scared me a little bit," the teen recalled. Eventually, a lifeguard found him and rescued him. He later made contact with a family friend, Noland Keaulana.
"I was glad to see a familiar face," Kawai told Hawaii News Now. "Uncle Noland is a great waterman." He was in "was in serious but stable condition" when found.
Kawai ended up in the hospital where they treated him for hypothermia and injuries. They later released him.
"I didn't know I could handle something like that, of that magnitude," Kawai told CNN, "and this situation showed me I can."
