HONOLULU -- With big surf hitting the South Shore, busy lifeguards and surfers made a dramatic rescue on Sunday.

Ten-foot faces were pounding the shore at Kewalo Basin, where a Hard Rock surf contest was under way. During a break in the action, recreational surfers challenged the big waves on a day when even experts were wary of the powerful surf.

Suddenly an alarm was sounded over the event's public address system.

"Water patrol! Help them!" surf promoter China Uemura's voice boomed.

A long-board surfer had apparently hit his board and he was floating unconscious. Off-duty Makaha lifeguard Koa Ibarra was surfing nearby and rendered aid.

"At one point, you feel so helpless because he's so heavy -- 200-plus pounds. I was by myself trying to keep him out of the water. Ten-foot faces -- it was a struggle," Ibarra said.

As word spread, more surfers paddled to the unconscious man.

Surfer and medical doctor Susan Nishida paddled out to help. She performed CPR in the water. She said he had a pulse but was in serious trouble.

"I think if it lasted -- if he was unconscious two more minutes, it would have been a bad outcome," Nishida said.

Surfers worked as a team on the steep rocky shore to bring him up onto land where they tried to revive him. It looked bad. Friends identified the surfer as Kai Enos.

As the ambulance took him to the hospital, his heart was beating and he was breathing.

Relief washed over the crowd like a wave.

"We all try to help each other because there's always risks in any sport and we all look out for each other," one surfer said.

KITV's Dick Allgire witnessed the event from start to finish and was left shaken by it.

"But I was struck by how everybody here at the beach came together with such focus and energy and literally saved that man's life," Allgire said.