Imitated, but never duplicated - there is only one Hawaiian Water Patrol. Created and run by the innovators of the use of Personal Water Craft (PWC) as a rescue tool - Hawaiian Water Patrol is the premiere event and production safety operation in the world.

The mission of the HAWAIIAN WATER PATROL is to provide safety for people and property through vast resources, knowledgeable trained professionals, high-tech equipment and an extensive risk-management structure. The menu of the HWP's services includes rescue-craft training, water patrol at surfing and beach events, and safety for the cast and crew of commercial and/or movie productions for print or film. All Hawaiian Water Patrol personnel have been  rescue craft trained by Terry Ahue and Brian Keaulana, are certified by the American Heart Association in CPR/AED Basic Life Support and trained lifeguards, stunt men and actors with Screen Actors Guild credentials.

In the ’70s, Terry Ahue was a City and County of Honolulu lifeguard sitting beside legendary waterman Eddie Aikau at Waimea Bay, saving lives and surfing what many consider the biggest waves in the world on his lunch breaks. Brian Keaulana, son of another legend, Buffalo Keaulana, was already surfing the huge surf at Waimea by his early teens, making frequent trips from his hometown of Makaha to the North Shore, where he befriended Ahue. Keaulana also became a City and County lifeguard, sitting alongside his father at Makaha.

By the '80s, the two friends and a handful of other lifeguards and big-wave surfers were spending their weekends as lifeguards and water patrol safety for surf contests around the Island, in big and small surf, using their own personal big-wave boards, a rescue tube and swim fins as equipment.

It all started with a life-changing brush with death. On Feb. 21st 1987, Brian Keaulana was surfing in the first big-wave invitational meet to commemorate the death of surfer Eddie Aikau. After a wipeout on a 20-foot wave during the contest, Keaulana found himself separated from his board, in the middle of the impact zone just to the left of the rocks, facing beating after beating by relentless waves. Keaulana recalls, "I would get held under by one or two waves and as I came up and grabbed a quick breath there would be another one crashing down on me. I didn't expect anyone to come get me, because it would have been suicide.

After the contest Keaulana went straight to Seven-Eleven and bought every watercraft magazine on the rack. "The next day I went to town and bought a Yamaha Wave Runner and called Terry and said, 'We need to figure out how to use these things to make rescues.' The rest is history," he says.

With the help of a group of big-wave surfers and lifeguards, such as Melvin Puu and Dennis Gouveia, the
research and development of equipment and rescue techniques utilizing the personal watercraft went into full swing. Within a year, the team had developed a rigging, resembling a large bodyboard, that attaches to the back of the craft and can accommodate multiple patients and a crew person.

Once the word got out about what Ahue and Keaulana were up to and how they were providing safety using the personal watercraft, their services were requested at all events requiring water-safety personnel. The two friends decided to create a formal business to facilitate the increasing demand for their services, appropriately naming it the Hawaiian Water Patrol Inc.

The Hawaiian Water Patrol has also become a one-stop shop for actors and stunt men for production companies shooting in Hawaii. Stunt and safety coordinators know that using the HWP means having full-fledged stunt men with Stunt and Screen Actors Guild cards. They can roll a car, do a fight scene, jump out a window and memorize lines as needed. Despite the company's reputation, Terry Ahue and Brian Keaulana are renowned among Hawaii water enthusiasts not only for their talent and aloha spirit, but also for their humility. "Money is not what we measure our success by. We have a job. It doesn't matter if it's water patrol for a contest at Pipeline, safety for a stuntman or doing the stunts ourselves. If, at the end of the day, all cast, crew and our personnel go home safe and in the same shape as they arrived on set that morning, we are successful,"
 

                                                            HAWAIIAN WATER PATROL / HWP INC.
                                                               Copyright - 1993. All Rights Reserved
                                                                                 

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