LIHUE — A 14-year-old girl narrowly escaped being swept out to sea at Polihale State Park Tuesday afternoon.
Greg Ellsworth was captain aboard a 60-foot catamaran owned by Kauai Sea Tours, cruising up the Westside of the island carrying customers on a sightseeing tour of Napali Coast. Rounding the corner past the U.S. Navy Pacific Missile Range Facility at Barking Sands, the boat was approaching Polihale Beach when crew members saw people waving from the shore.
At first, the crew thought maybe it was just some friends trying to say hello, but quickly realized something was wrong.
“We kinda waved back at first. Then we realized, ‘oh no, they’re trying to flag us down,’” said Colin Valhuerdi, a crew member.
When Ellsworth pulled the boat closer to the beach, another crew member, Julie McQueen, spotted the girl caught in a current a few hundred yards offshore.
Before she got caught in the rip tide, Chloe King had been enjoying a beautiful afternoon at the beach, on vacation with her family from Anaheim, Calif. King and her brother were boogie boarding in the Polihale shore break when both kids suddenly found themselves quickly being sucked away from the beach.
Their father saw his children in distress and swam out to help. He managed to pull his son back to shore, but when he turned around, his 14-year-old daughter was nowhere to be seen, lost behind the six-foot waves crashing steeply against the beach.
He was about to run back into the ocean and swim in the direction he last saw his daughter, but a bystander held him back, according to reports of the incident later relayed to Ellsworth and Valhuerdi.
“Someone told him, if you try to save her, you’re both gonna die,” Valhuerdi said. Ellsworth said he was told that the man responded, “Well, then I’m going to drown trying.”
Just then, people on the shore spotted the Kauai Sea Tours catamaran sailing up the beach and flagged it down.
“The rip was going out pretty far,” Ellsworth remembered.
He worked the boat farther in, trying to get as close to the stranded girl as possible, but had to pull up short in the shallow water. A wide swath of churning sea water still separated the boat and the girl struggling to tread water in the powerful current. Realizing somebody would have to swim out to her, one of the guys ran to the back of the boat, grabbed a rescue surf board and threw it over the side.
Ellsworth said two of the guys on the crew, “both excellent watermen,” looked at each other for a moment, trying to decide who would make the rescue. Both men wanted to go, but Ellsworth said Valhuerdi had seniority and seized the moment.
“Colin was kinda amped to do it,” Ellsworth said.
Valhuerdi said as soon as he saw the board in the water he jumped over the side of the boat, pulled himself on the board and started paddling. By his estimate, the girl was at least 200 yards away, but he said it didn’t take more than a minute to get to her.
“I grew up surfing,” he said. “I’ve been in the ocean my whole life, so if I gotta do a real quick sprint, I can do it.”
Valhuerdi paddled up to the girl and offered her one end of the board to climb on. She was tired but coherent. Valhuerdi asked her a few quick questions to assess her mental condition. She knew where she was and how many fingers he held up but said she had been stranded for about a half hour and lost her boogie board 10 or 15 minutes before.
“She was pretty winded,” Valhuerdi said, guessing the young girl probably didn’t have enough strength left to stay afloat much longer.
“I’m just glad we were there when we were,” he said. “That could have been a completely different outcome.”
A set was coming in, but Valhuerdi saw them coming and knew they wouldn’t break until they passed. He waited for a couple minutes before heading back. Valhuerdi put the girl on the 12-foot board, and then “I just pushed and swam and pushed and swam” until they reached the boat.
Back on the deck of the catamaran, Chloe ate some fruit and drank a ginger ale. Physically she was OK, although visibly shaken by the near-death experience.
“As soon as she caught her breath she was fine,” Ellsworth said, but remembered the girl stayed pretty quiet for the rest of the boat ride. “You could tell she had other things on her mind.”
He contacted the fire department on his cell phone just before losing service, and got the OK to continue the tour, agreeing to meet Chloe’s family after the trip.
“He came over, and I went to shake his hand,” Valhuerdi said, recalling what happened when he met Chloe’s father, who was waiting on the dock when the boat pulled into Port Allen later that evening.
“He was like, ‘No. I’m not gonna shake your hand,’” Valhuerdi said. “And he gave me a hug.”
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Caleb Loehrer, staff writer, can be reached at 245-0441 or cloehrer@thegardenisland.com.
Thank you, Waterman! And many Blessings to you and your loved ones.
Excellent article Mr. Loehrer, well written as well. I’m certain I speak for all of us when I say “keep up the good work”. We need more articles like this to illustrate the best of humanity rather than all the negativity of late.
Great job Colin Valhuerdi!
Mahalos Captain Ellsworth and other life-saving crew. How about getting a raise for these guys?
Angels onboard and on the beach! Luckily no life was loss.
Great article but…you missed a chance to warn visitors that Polihale is treacherous and unpredictable. Visitors should be made aware that the safest option for swimming on Kauai is at a life-guarded beach!
This is David King, the father of Chloe who you rescued last Tuesday. I wanted to let you know that I had not forgotten what all of you did on that day. I honestly was in shock for several days after the occurrence realizing the potentially tragic outcome that could have occurred to one or all of us. Not only did you save her but you saved me as well. I was only able to reach my son who was struggling – the same wave that had brought Christopher a bit closer to me took Chloe further out. I screamed to her as loud as I could I would come back for her. After reaching the shore with my son, I was terrified to see that she was now twice the distance from the shore as when I first went in. I told a lady on the beach that was taking care of my son my full name and told her where the keys to our vehicle were so my kids could reach their mom with their cell phones in the car in case I didn’t make it back.
I thought as long as she had her boogie board somehow I or someone would get to her. When the last wave crashed on her, and she became separated from her board, I lost it. Before that, a local had gone in the water after her and missed her and came back and said that the rip tide was too strong for him to go in again. Someone had brought me the yellow lifeguard Rescue Tube, and a couple grabbed me telling me I wasn’t going to make it – I yelled that she was out there all alone with nothing and I will die trying to save her.
At that time another man approached stating he had been on the phone with 911/Coast Guard and boats were coming for her…. when I turned back seeing your Catamaran is the only thing that kept me from swimming back out to her. You were observant enough to notice the shore of people trying to get your attention and figured out that someone might be in trouble. I realize you spotted her without the call from the Coast Guard, but the result was that you saved my daughter.
My life has forever changed because of that day, and I am eternally grateful. No amount of money or words can adequately express my gratitude or repay what you brought back to me on that day.
There are so many people that are unnamed but I will never forget their faces that I can never thank enough, of course the crew of the “Luck Lady” who rescued Chloe, the woman who approached me to take care of my son, an entire beach that tried to help, the local that went in the water when I couldn’t right after I rescued my son due to being exhausted, the lifeguards that arrived on scene at the beach and on jet skies in the water, the fire department that responded and the 911 operator that stayed on the line with the Coast Guard sending boats to our location.
The amazing part of this whole event is the power of prayer and God’s Sovereign Hand upon me and the kids while we were in the water. All ended as exactly as it should and my faith has grown so much deeper as I have no doubt I was in the presence of my savior in the water. All appreciation goes to God and I witnessed first hand the glory, power, and mercy of God.
Kauai is our favorite island and still brings us so much peace and joy, and we look forward to returning soon.
I lived in Hanalei during the early 90’s and swam at Polihale quite a few times. I had no idea it was so dangerous and how foolish I was. Thankfully nothing happened!