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Hammerheads & Knuckleheads
What it’s like to be North Shore lifeguards
by By Courtney Mather
December 30, 2004
Whether surfing at Kanaha or swimming the waters along Baldwin beach, I always appreciate knowing there are lifeguards there to lend a hand. Just in case. To find out more about our hunky red-clad protectors, I spoke with David Gallagher and Tony Colletta. They’ve been county lifeguards for 11 and five years, respectively.
Maui Time
: Between the two of you, you cover all three North Shore beaches. Tell me more about where you work…
Colleta
: I work mostly at Baldwin and Ho’okipa. I’m at Ho’okipa two days a week. It’s a high percentage of high-level surfers and windsurfers.
Gallagher
: I work at Kanaha. Kanaha and Ho’okipa are internationally known places. Both are very cosmopolitan and international. For this reason, it helps to have a grasp on several different languages. Communication is very important, especially in a dangerous situation.
[David mumbles something in German starting with “Werd Deich” and I look at him quizzically.]
Gallagher
: It means “Sit down and hold on.”
Colleta
: Or “Pelegro por favor.” That means something like “There’s danger!” in Spanish.
Gallagher
: Sometimes you have to speak the language of the person you are helping because they don’t necessarily respect you otherwise. With different personalities you have to become more commanding. There’s a very fine balance between being professional and polite and being assertive. Still, we are rescue officers, not enforcement officers. We have no legal authority to stop anyone from doing anything. According to our captain, David Emerson, we can only warn and advise. So we lean a lot on communicating with people
before
they make the decision to do something stupid. There’s an old saying, “God watches out for drunks, sailors and fools.” Sometimes they do find themselves in exceptionally good hands.
Does this end up translating into a lot of water rescues?
Colleta
: First aids are probably the most common assistance that we provide, whether it’s for reef cuts or boards colliding into people.
Still, we do have water rescues at all the beaches—Kanaha, Baldwin and Ho’okipa. But each beach has its priorities. At Baldwin, there’s large surf but it’s mostly shore break. So it’s not uncommon for someone to get stuck in a rip or pounded by the shore break causing spinal or cervical [neck] injuries.
At Ho’okipa, you have large surf and everything that goes along with it… broken boards, broken leashes, someone swimming in. Ho’okipa is one of the busiest beaches in the county, has the most consistent surf in the county and has the largest surf for a surfing beach in the county.
You have large surf, a populated beach with a number of different surf spots out there and that all adds up to a lot of action and a lot of rescues. So we all stay pretty active over there. David works at Kanaha where you tend to do more outer reef surf rescues with the jet ski.
Tell me about the challenges you face out there.
Gallagher
: In the winter, a really challenging situation is having to swim your jet ski in when it breaks down in big surf. See, when the surf gets really big, there’s a lot of debris in the water. When there’s debris in the water, just a little stick can shut your whole jet ski down. When this happens and you’ve got 20-foot waves breaking, you have to say to yourself, “Shhh. Calm down. It’s okay. You are trained well enough to deal with whatever happens.”
I stand on the shoulders of giants. The giants are the people who have taught me how to operate a ski, how to go out there. These are all men younger than me, but I have the humility to learn from them because they have more experience than me.
Colleta
: I look at it as your life is depending on the jet ski. I’ve been out the last two biggest days in history at Jaws. It’s gnarly, you know. You put your life on that jet ski, and you’ve got 80-foot waves, and you are trying to get back in.
I can’t even imagine. I feel scared just looking at waves that size from shore.
Gallagher
: These waves want to kill you. They want to crush you. And that’s just the ocean. And you respect their power and the fact that you don’t have that kind of power. All you have is your own intelligence and training to deal with it.
Colleta
: It’s wild.
Gallagher
: Sometimes I think, “I’m not getting paid enough to do this!”
Colleta
: I don’t do it for the money. If you do lifeguarding for the money, then you are doing the wrong thing.
Gallagher
: When someone that I am rescuing says “Hey, I can’t pay you for a rescue,” I say, “You pay taxes don’t you? This is your tax dollars working for you. This is the county government working for you, serving you.”
Sounds like you take great pride in your work.
Gallagher
: I have to say I’m in love with my job. It’s absolutely one of the best jobs I’ve ever had. I really like helping people and I like being in a situation where I’m forced to push my own physical envelope, like when I’m doing a rescue in big surf. I like to be scared.
But it’s really challenging to be really scared and not be able to show it. You don’t want the person that’s really in trouble to know that you are scared because it doesn’t help them. They are usually tired and panicky and you need to come across as professional as you can.
How do you prepare yourselves for these types of situations?
Colleta
: We stay in shape and this makes our job easier doing rescues. I jog, surf, bodysurf and skateboard a lot so that keeps me pretty active.
Gallagher
: Physical stamina is definitely a priority. This job demands the discipline of staying in top physical shape. We are the only civil servants who are put to a physical test each year.
Colleta
: A lot of the big wave surfers say they are in their top physical shape in their 40s. So I look at what I’m doing now and figure I’ll probably be in my top physical shape when I’m 44!
[David strikes a pose and shows off his fine form at 52.]
Okay, boys, let’s keep this PG-13. Tell me about your scariest moment as a lifeguard.
Gallagher
: My scariest moment? It was actually breaking up a fight. What some people don’t realize is that we don’t just deal with the ocean.
Colleta
: Domestic violence, drug addicts, fights…
Gallagher
: Theft, you name it. If it happens in a public park, we respond. We are the representatives of the county.
Colleta
: We are the first ones on any scene, whether it’s a drowning, a cardiac on the beach, a fight in the park or on the beach. We see the initial problem. Then we get our back-up. We work as a team with firefighters, paramedics and police officers. There are some really amazing guys that work in this county.
Let’s talk shark sightings for a moment. I’ve spent many hours dangling my toes in the waters of Kanaha, just wondering how you guys know where the sharks are?
Gallagher
: Because Kanaha is close to the airport, we get pilots flying over who see big, big, big sharks out on the reef. They will call into the tower, “Hey there is an 18-foot tiger out here. Or, there’s a 15-foot hammerhead out here!” Then the tower will call 911 and, because we are on the 911 system, 911 will call us.
I know that you post signs to inform the public. But what about divers who may already be out there?
When divers have their tako and bleeding fish in a net, it’s like a calling card to sharks that are out there feeding. So we go out there and pick divers up. That can be a bit tricky during low tide because you don’t know where that shark is. But you know one thing—that guy has speared a fish and it’s your responsibility to take care of everybody in the water.
I feel good about this because I’ve been a diver, and because the old tradition of Hawaii is diving. It’s noble. It’s what Hawaii is really about. Surfing and fishing—those are the things that make us special in Hawaii so it makes me feel good to protect those people. That the job I’m doing is something worth doing.
Gallagher
: Tony, let me ask you this. Why do you like working where you work?
Colleta
: For one, I live on the North Shore. I do everything on the North Shore. If I can live and work and do all my activities within a few miles, what a perfect lifestyle that is. I surf, fish and bodysurf all within two miles of my house. The North Shore is a lot cooler. It’s not as populated. It’s just North Shore living. It’s a good way.
I like a simple life. I like gardening, surfing, skateboarding and walking my dogs with my beautiful wife. That’s what I like to do. I also enjoy the North Shore community. The people on the North Shore are cool. The whole atmosphere makes for a good place to work.
And, I get to work with guys who were born and raised on the North Shore. I did all of my training through Maui County and learned a lot from them. But I learn so much firsthand from guys who have spent all of their lives in these waters right here.
Gallagher
: I grew up here from the age of 19. I’m 52 now. So I’ve spent most of my life here. And as a local haole guy, I’m always learning from the people of this island. They are so right on and have so much to share with us. They have so much good mana.
Colleta
: The most unusual question I’ve ever been asked? “Is there water around the whole island?” was one of the best ones. “Are there sharks out there?” was another good one.
Gallagher
: I’ve got a couple more. One tourist asked, “What’s the elevation here?” I answered, “Ma’am it’s sea level.” Then there’s the occasional, “What island are we on?” I say, “Catalina.” Just kidding. Another favorite question we get a lot is “Are there sharks out there and should we be afraid of them?” I joke, “There are hammerheads, but I’m more concerned about the knuckleheads on shore.”
Colleta
: That’s what I always say. It’s more dangerous to drive.
Gallagher
: We have so much water activity that actually the predators out there are smart enough to distinguish between windsurfers, kite surfers and turtles. We have such rare incidents where sharks are being active in our waters. There is so much food for them out there they have no interest in the taste of rayon, styrofoam or human flesh.
Statistically, the most dangerous animal in the ocean is the Opihi, the little abalone crustaceans that live on the rocks.
Colleta
: More people are killed by Opihi than by anything else. People cut them off rocks with a knife and turn their backs on the ocean. Then they get hit by an ocean surge and it pulls them off the rocks.
Gallagher
: We have a saying here in Hawaii: “Never turn your back on the ocean. It’s disrespectful.”
Tony, I think it’s your turn to ask David a question. Turn around is fair play.
Colleta
: Tell us, who is David Gallagher?
Gallagher
: I came to Maui in 1973 from Mendocino. I was a very serious street evangelist at the time. While in the Christian ministry, I had three dreams in a row and they all said the same thing to me. “You are not going to be a street preacher in New York City, you are going to go to Hawaii.” I decided to drop all the Christianity and get into making people laugh and playing music. Because nothing serves better than making people laugh. I’ve had a second job as an entertainer ever since.
Before I was a lifeguard, I was a dive instructor. Two lifeguards said to me, “Gallagher, with all the rescues you do out in the ocean, why don’t you become a lifeguard? You’re a waterman.” I said, good idea! I was accepted as a lifeguard on Maui in 1994. If you like to help other people, this is the job. It’s a lifestyle, not a business.
Colleta
: It’s the best job in the entire world.
Gallagher
: It’s the best job in the entire world short of my other job as a singer/comedian/piano player.
Colleta
: Or dancing at bachelorette parties?
I’m getting a visual. Well, I have to say that you two seem to have fun together.
Gallagher
: Yeah, Tony and I work pretty well together. Tony is funny. He’s an intelligent guy who laughs at my jokes.
Colleta
: I’m a real polite guy.
MTW