Oahu lifeguards were first to respond to an emergency call Sunday that a kayaker off Kaena Point had been blown miles offshore.

But with the man more than five miles out, the Honolulu Fire Department and Coast Guard were called in. Shortly before nightfall a Coast Guard cutter picked up the man about six miles from the shore and brought him safely back.

Such cooperation, common in Hawaii waters, was formally recognized Tuesday when Mayor Peter Carlisle and Coast Guard Rear Adm. Charles W. Ray, commander of the Hawaii-based 14th Coast Guard District, signed an agreement to continue working cooperatively on search-and- rescue efforts. It was the first agreement of its kind in Hawaii.

The agreement "recognize(s) the need to fortify search-and-rescue efforts so that each party’s unique capabilities and talents are fully exploited to help protect people and property," Carlisle said at news conference in his office.

Under the agreement, city Ocean Safety personnel and the Coast Guard will notify each other as soon as possible of an emergency call.

If lifeguards are unable to complete the mission within an hour, the Coast Guard will join the effort. Coast Guard personnel will take the lead if the incident is more than a mile offshore.

“By all of us working together, we have great coverage, whereas if we operated alone without talking to each other, the search-and-rescue effort would suffer,” said Coast Guard Lt. Cmdr. Matt Derrenbacher.

Derrenbacher and Jim Howe, Ocean Safety operations chief, explained each agency’s capabilities.

"Jim’s guys are excellent lifeguards and excellent swimmers, and they also have jet skis and they can get in the surf," Derrenbacher said.

Although this enables the lifeguards to get to the scene the quickest, if the missing person is more than one mile offshore, the Coast Guard will take over because the city’s rescuers aren’t capable of operating in "real offshore waters" without jeopardizing their own safety, Howe said.

The Coast Guard also can conduct searches at night with helicopters and boats.

"There’s a lot of places where they have a great asset where ours might not be the best fit, and vice versa," Derrenbacher said. "When life is in the balance, time is of the essence, and we want to make sure we’re being as efficient as possible."