Keeping guard in Kapolei

Dan Maxwell's goal is for everyone to stay safe at Hawaiian Waters Adventure Park

Dan Maxwell Title: Aquatic supervisor Job: Hires, trains and supervises the lifeguard staff at Hawaiian Waters Adventure Park

Dan Maxwell has a lot of territory to cover as top lifeguard at Hawaiian Waters Adventure Park. The 25-acre attraction in Kapolei has more than a dozen water-themed rides and play areas where visitors to the park can unexpectedly find themselves in trouble -- and where Maxwell and the dozens of lifeguards he supervises stand ready to leap to their aid, if necessary. Maxwell joined the park a little more than two years ago, after moving to Hawaii with his now ex-wife, who had been stationed here in the Army. He is a graduate of Fallbrook High School in Fallbrook, Calif., and has an associate of arts degree from Palomar Community College in San Marcos, Calif., Maxwell is 26, single and lives in Aiea.

Question: What does it mean that you're the aquatic supervisor?

Answer: Pretty much all the aquatics, like the lifeguard department, I oversee them, to make sure they're trained. There's a lot of stuff, like when I walk through the park, to see how they look on the stand, to make sure they're covering their zone and acting like lifeguards. There's a lot of on-stand demeanor that we look at, to make sure they look professional.

Q: Anything else?

A: We do random safety audits. We have a mannequin that we throw in the water -- this is unannounced; the guards don't know we're coming -- so they look for the mannequin, and once they spot it, they jump in, they get it out of the water, bring it on land, the lifeguards clear the water, and we have them perform care on the mannequin to test their CPR skills.

Q: How many lifeguards are there?

A: Currently, right now, I'd say there's about 64 all together on the roster. In the summertime we have a lot more because we're open seven days a week.

Q: What's your schedule right now?

A: Right now we're closed on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.

Yeah, ... I was counting and during the summer we had about 90 guards at one point. But during the day we have 30 to 40 guards.

Q: What's the closing time?

A: Closing time at the park is 3:30 (p.m.) on weekdays and 4 o'clock on weekends.

Q: How long have you been the lead lifeguard?

A: I started as a lifeguard, got moved up to a lead, and then above that is the aquatic supervisor.

Q: Which you became when?

A: Last summer.

Q: What were you doing before you joined the park?

A: I actually came out here from Pennsylvania. My ex-wife was stationed here with the Army.

Q: How did you learn to be a lifeguard?

A: You know, I pretty much just came here. I was trained all through here. We have our instructors that work here. I just got my instructor's license not too long ago.

Q: Do you have to take any continuing education courses?

A: Every month, our lifeguards here are required to do four hours of in-service training.

Q: What's that mean?

A: One hour a week, the lifeguards come in and we schedule what are called safety meetings. We have two a week, and the lifeguards are supposed to attend at least one. And during the safety meetings we refresh our skills. We do CPR, backboarding (extrications out of the water), and we practices our lifeguarding skills, like rescue, so it's just a constant refreshing. We make sure our guards come in with their A game.

Q: How often do you have problems?

A: We always have, like, little cuts and scrapes, but we use our skills and everything goes smoothly. Our guards really know their stuff.

Q: Nobody has ever drowned there, have they?

A: No.

Q: Have you ever actually saved anyone from drowning?

A: Many times.

Q: At the park, or elsewhere?

A: Here, yeah. I've gone in, when I was working lifeguard everyday. One day I went in six times, and I know other guards have done more than that.

Q: What happens to those people?

A: Well, usually they're startled, so we grab them -- we're trying to be proactive -- and we pull them over to land. They have a rest, and pretty much they go on with their day. We make sure everybody leaves the park safely. That's our goal here.

Q: How closely do you work with the city emergency medical teams?

A: If we ever have a big emergency situation, our job is to get them out of the water, keep them stable, and, if we have to, call 911, and the paramedics come into the park and pick them up.

Q: How about yourself? Have you ever almost drowned?

A: I've never almost drowned, no.

Q: Are you the guy that hires the other lifeguards? Who does that?

A: I do that. I do the hiring, the scheduling.

Q: What do you look for when you're interviewing possible new lifeguards?

A: You can usually tell when someone has interactive skills, likes being with guests, and who's going to show up to work -- they have that good spirit, good attitude, and who are good with teamwork, because they're always going to be working with other lifeguards.

Q: What would you say is their average age?

A: I'd say around, gosh, I'll say 18. We have lifeguards that are out of high school, and on weekends we have the full-time college kids that can work on weekends

Q: How many people visit there every day?

A: During the weekdays, when it's really slow, we could have 300, 400 people. A busy day would be around 2,000, 3,000 people.

Q: Where are the lifeguards positioned in the park?

A: Any ride that has water in it, we have a lifeguard there. Any slide exits, we have lifeguards. We have two rides where you ride on an inner tube, and you go down. We have rides where you body-slide down the chute. We have attractions for little children, shallow areas and interactive places with small slides for the small little keiki. And we just recently added Da FlowRider last year.

Q: It's a wave that people can ride on?

A: Yeah.

Q: Is that popular?

A: Yeah, it's pretty popular.

Q: What kind of people ride that?

A: We get a lot of people that come in there, surfers, and they think they can stand up on it the first time, but it takes a little practice. Once you get the hang of it, it's great fun.

Q: What kinds of people go the park mostly?

A: Around 70 percent are locals and about 30 percent are tourists.

Q: What about students? Do you ever have classroom visits?

A: We have groups -- Pop Warner football teams that come in here. We have graduation parties. We also have all the big concerts, at night.

Q: Can they go in the pool during the concerts?

A: Usually for the big concerts we'll have Da FlowRider going, not so much the wave pool (Hurricane Bay).

Q: You can surf the wave pool, too?

A: Not so much surf it; you can bodyboard it.

Q: Are there ever days when you just don't feel like going into the water?

A: Oh yeah. Everyone has those days, but you have to, and they're more than willing to go in.

Q: Do you have a lot of paperwork?

A: Yeah. We have to turn in rescue reports. Audits -- whenever we do an audit, we have to write up all the audits and document everything. And then any injuries that happen we always document. And I do the scheduling.

Q: What's your favorite part of the job.

A: Oh, working with people.

Q: What do you like least about it?

A: You know, I've had a lot of jobs in the past, and this has to be the most fun.

Q: So not much wrong with it, huh?

A: No.

Q: Any big challenges each day?

A: It's always a challenge each day to make sure all the guests leave safely.

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