North Shore rescue quite a feat

The North Shore Tuesday was a treacherous place to be. Hanalei Fire Capt. Kurt Leong said waves with 20-foot faces were washing over the reefs. “There were seven rescues on the North Shore today,” said Leong late Tuesday.

All the rescues were successful, while one in particular was rather extraordinary. “It’s hard to put into words what I saw,” said Heather Shadur of Chicago. “It was absolutely incredible.”

Shadur was at Ke‘e Beach watching the sunset with Daniel Saylor of Kilauea whom she had befriended the week before.

A visitor from the Mainland ran up to the pair and asked if they had a cell phone and asked them to call 911 because his wife was dying.

Familiar with the area, Saylor knew there would be no reception and sent the visitor to a nearby pay phone while he went into action.

Hobbling to the water on crutches, Saylor was able to abandon them and swim to the rescue. “When he handed me the crutches and swam off … I’d just never seen anything like that,” Shadur said.

In September, Saylor had shattered both heels when he fell from a tree “while goofing around.”

After having surgery in California, he was left with two screws in his right heel, four in his left and a fused ankle. “He had some cadaver tissue grafted on as well,” said Shadur.

He was able to get out of a wheelchair just two weeks ago.

On Tuesday at Ke‘e Beach, Saylor had just spent the day showing Shadur the North Shore sites and he was tired.

But when he saw the swimmer in trouble he did not hesitate. “I saw her get sucked off the reef by some breakers … she was taking pictures and a big one came and sucked her right off,” Saylor said.

Growing up around the water and being an avid spear fisherman, he knew the habits of the water and currents. “He didn’t have the use of his legs, so he just went hand over fist when he got to the reef,” Shadur said. “He got a little bruised up.”

“Since he was in the water, I guess he didn’t need his heels,” said eyewitness Ray Gebauer of Bellevue, Wash. “He saw no one else doing anything, so he went after her and got her back in.”

Hanalei Fire Capt. Leong arrived on-scene not long after Saylor got to shore with the visitor. “We saw it was Daniel and we were not surprised,” Leong said. “The waves at Ke‘e had good 20-foot faces … it was really rough.”

Earlier in the day, at the same beach, Leong had assisted in saving a man and a woman from San Francisco who had been washed outside the reef by the treacherous surges.

Leong said with the assistance of a passerby, lifeguards Jeff McIntosh and Matthew Burman made it out to the pair and stayed with them until a JetSki arrived to assist until a helicopter was able to pick the pair up in a ‘Billy Pugh’ net.

That same day there were four rescues at ‘Anini Beach several miles up the coast from Ke‘e.

Saylor’s selfless act came later in the day, after 5 p.m., and was the last of the day after lifeguards were off duty.

Ke‘e Beach though is not manned by lifeguards. The nearest lifeguard tower is miles away at Ha‘ena Beach Park.

The woman Saylor saved was tired and a little bruised but otherwise OK. “I think her name was Debbie and I think she was from Ohio,” said Saylor. “She came up to me later and thanked me.”

“He didn’t want any credit … he sat there for a half-hour resting and a string of people kept telling him what a great thing he did,” Shadur said. “Witnessing that kind of thing has the effect of changing people’s lives forever.”

Saylor grew up in Kapa‘a and Kilauea with his older brother and younger sister and was always around the water. “I am a life-long waterman,” he said.

His dad owns Jim Saylor Jewelers in Kapa‘a. “I’ve been involved in a couple other of these,” Saylor said of his rescue.

Three to be exact over the years. “What would anybody have done,” Saylor said. “Probably what I did.”

“The moment he saw what was happening there was no question,” Shadur said. “And he didn’t want any credit.”