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Keith and Sunan Havens along with adult children Zaak and Zane saved a couple from drowning while they were vacationing in Hawaii last summer.

On Sunday, June 29, 2008, Keith and Susan Havens along with their sons, Zaak and Zane were snorkeling at Larsen’s Beach on the island of Kauai , Hawaii. While walking down the beach, Sue and Keith noticed 2 swimmers about 75-100 meters out from the shore waving and yelling for help. These swimmers, one male and one female, had been snorkeling near the reef, when they got caught in a rip current that runs out through a channel in the coral reef.

Upon hearing their cries for help, Zaak, Zane and Keith dove in, and swam out to offer assistance. When they reached the female, she and the man had been separated by the rip current, and were exhausted by their struggles. Zaak and Zane continued swimming out to help the man, who meanwhile had been pulled further out into the channel, while Keith rescued the woman. Because of the unique nature of the coral channel, they were unable to swim out of the rip current by paralleling the beach, as the breaking waves on the reef kept pushing them back toward the middle of the channel, and the waves breaking on the coral were dangerous in themselves.

Keith had to tow the woman back toward shore against the current, using both the Tired Swimmer’s Carry (an old Red Cross Lifesaving technique that is no longer taught) and a cross chest carry. As Keith was towing the woman in, Sue swam out to them with a rescue tube that a bystander found on the beach (there is no lifeguard on this beach, even though it has had many drownings over the years). When Keith got in far enough for the rip current to not be a factor, and the woman could touch bottom, Sue helped her in while Keith took the rescue tube out to help the man.

By this time, Zaak and Zane had reached the man, who had been pulled pretty far out into the channel. They helped him get onto a coral tower so he could rest. The man’s legs were cut up pretty badly by getting pulled through the coral, but he was calm and cooperative. After Keith reached the 3 of them, Zaak and Zane swam back to shore while continuing to keep an eye on the male victim and Keith. Keith used the rescue tube to pull the man back through the rip current to shore. Other than the cuts on his legs and the exhaustion they were both feeling, the two victims were fine.

Thank you to the Havens family for your extraordinary efforts to save the lives of these two swimmers. You truly are heroes in our eyes.