OLOWALU, Maui — A group of 32 kayakers needed help returning safely to shore yesterday after encountering strong winds and choppy seas off Olowalu.

The kayakers are passengers aboard the Pride of America and Norwegian Wind cruise ships that were making port calls at Kahului and Lahaina, respectively. They said conditions were calm in the late morning when they paddled out from the popular snorkeling beach a mile southeast of Lahaina with three guides from Action Adventure Tours. Then winds and whitecaps kicked up, making it impossible to maneuver the lightweight kayaks.

"We ... sat and waited for it to die down, but it didn't. It got worse," said David Asplen, 38, of Cambridge, Md., who was with his wife, Lisa, 33.

As the guides worked to retrieve kayakers who had gone adrift, others were told to abandon their kayaks and swim to shore. The Asplens, strong swimmers, made it in with relative ease, spotting sea turtles along the way.

Carrie Fox, 37, and Margaret Calicher, 44, of Chino, Calif., said they turned back to shore in their kayaks after paddling out a half-mile and were the first to make land. "It was really choppy and I was worried we were going to go over. It wasn't worth it" to continue, Fox said.

"Every time we started to paddle, the wind would take us farther out. It was hard to keep going," Calicher said.

Authorities were alerted shortly after noon. A Maui Fire Department rescue boat and county water safety officers on personal watercraft intercepted some of the group as they swam to shore. "They appeared to be calm and no one was panicking," said acting Battalion Chief Jamie Joyo.

The Coast Guard's 47-foot boat stationed at Ma'alaea picked up seven people who had been retrieved by fire, county and private vessels. The Pacific Whale Foundation's Ocean Quest whale-watch boat rescued one of the guides in "howling wind" about 2 miles out, said Steve Panetta, captain of the foundation's vessel. The guide was transferred to the Coast Guard vessel.

The Coast Guard also sent two HH-65 Dolphin helicopters, a C-130 plane and the cutter Assateague from O'ahu to assist, but everyone was safe by the time the extra help arrived.

Action Adventure Tours kayak guide Brian Murphy said the company makes safety a priority and clients are given flotation vests and a thorough briefing before heading out. A system of tethers and anchors is used to keep the group together, he said, but several of the lines snapped.

"We always try to gauge what's happening with the wind but you can't always tell when it's going to pick up like that," Murphy said.

Mike McCoy, 49, of Atlanta, said he never felt his life was in danger even though his kayak capsized when a line broke. "We just got out there and it got really rough and we couldn't get back in," he said.

No one needed medical attention and most of the kayakers were in good spirits as they waited on shore to be taken back to their cruise ships, although Diane Kunzman, of Endicott, N.Y., was still a bit shaky from the ordeal. "It's not what we signed up for," she said.

"It didn't look far but halfway in I was thinking there's no way I'm going to make it," she said. Kunzman, 46, said she turned over onto her back and began kicking to shore with husband Bob at her side.

Kunzman, 46, said it had taken her three years to talk her husband into kayaking.

"It's not the first time she's tried to kill me," he joked.

Kayakers off the West Maui coastline periodically require rescue because of deceptive conditions. Nearshore waters are protected from the wind by the West Maui Mountains, but beyond a certain point, the winds can whip up dangerous seas.

Coast Guard Petty Officer Michael De Nyse said each case is different, but in this situation, it would've been better for the kayakers to stay with their kayaks in a group, even if it meant drifting farther from shore. He said the kayaks are buoyant and brightly colored, making them easier to spot.

He also recommended that before launching, kayakers and other ocean users tell someone on land exactly where they are going and when they will return.

Reach Christie Wilson at cwilson@honoluluadvertiser.com.