Sean introduces the team to DAWN MASTERTON, a specialist in kinesiology and physiology (i.e., the human body and in making it stronger and faster). She is a champion at underwater swimming. She gives the team a lecture on how it is done. Sean tells the team to get in the water for practice—including Dawn. In the middle of practice, she blacks out and Sean and Rock must dive in to rescue her. Obviously, the team doesn’t have much faith in her methods at this point.
Mitch arrives at the airport, loaded with leis to meet Tanner. He sees his step son deplaning while telling a stewardess everything about Mitch. Mitch leads Tanner onto the tarmac, where Allie lands her helicopter. She takes the two on a tour of the island.
In the midst of the tour, they witness a woman frantically waving a towel. Off shore, they see a two-person outrigger canoe turned over in the water. Allie lands the helicopter as Mitch and Tanner run to where the woman is scraming frantically. She claims her friend is still by the canoe and will drown. Allie calls for backups. Tanner tells the woman on the shore not to worry, Mitch will save her friend. Mitch brings the second woman to the shore where he performs CPR. It is touch and go for a moment, then she comes to. Tanner glows with pride.
Back at HQ, Jessie comes into the room as Dawn unpacks. She marvels at all the gear Dawn has. Then, she shows Dawn some of the equipment she will be using, including a Nextel combo phone/walkie talkie. To demonstrate its effectiveness, she phones Jason, who sees her caller ID and knows who it is. Next, Dawn calls Sean, not only to test the phone but to “play with him a bit.”
JD waits on the beach to meet someone. A woman approaches: it is Dawn! The two reveal that they were lovers. JD wants to keep their past relationship a secret, but Dawn isn’t quite ready to give up yet. Immediately after this, Dawn sneaks into Sean’s room: she’s resentful that he set her up to fail. After all, she had been under medication because of a spider bite and had just been through a fourteen hour flight from India. Now, she wants another chance. Sean agrees that the two will have a one-on-one competition the next day. If she loses, she will go home. He also tells her to never come into his room again. She agrees she won’t, unless she’s invited. Before leaving, she mentions some of the other things she learned while in India—obviously titillating him.
Meanwhile, Tanner has met with TAMI, a pretty teenage girl who is great at surfing. Tanner is immediately smitten.
Jason spots a woman caught in a rip. He immediately springs into action and dives into the water, swimming out to get her. Because of the turbulent conditions, he realizes he will need to bring her into shore using the momentum of the waves. At first, the woman is afraid, but Jason’s confidence in his abilities leads to a successful rescue. JD has the chance the join the America’s Cup team through his friend CAL THOMAS. He trains hard with them. Observing him, Jessie, Newmie and Kekoa are caught between the hopes that he makes it on the team, and that he remains with the training operation. Tanner is in the surf line up with Tami. The two have become fast friends. Mitch talks to Jessie about Tanner. Mitch is a little concerned because Tanner has had such a difficult time. Most recently, he witnessed a stabbing at his own school. This is the reason Mitch felt it was important to bring him out to Hawaii.
After a fun day, Tami announces to Tanner that she is riding her board out to the place where the waves break, which is pretty far out. Tanner wants to join her, but she doesn’t want him to. He insists he go with her, but she becomes even more adamant. It is getting dark. Tanner rushes up to Mitch and tells him that Tami wants to kill herself. Apparently, she has some dread disease that requires her to go to Houston the next day. She has no parents and feels that no one cares for her. She says the only time she’s happy is when she’s in the water and now she wants to stay there. Mitch quickly organizes a search. With Tanner on board, they search the local waters. Finally, they spot her floating on her surf board. Mitch dives into the water and has a heart-to-heart talk with her. She is afraid of dying. Mitch points out that what is happening right now is important. He reminds her that she taught Tanner how to surf the waves today. Now, it is her turn to be brave and “ride the wave.” She understands.
The next day, Mitch, Tanner and Allie all go to the airport to see Tami off. Tami gives Tanner his first kiss and leaves him with her surfboard, telling him to take good care of it because she’ll be back soon. Back at HQ, everyone is careful around JD, feeling that he is disappointed to not make the America’s Cup team. But, he tells them, he did make it. However, he had another more important commitment first. He will be staying with the Hawaii operation. Everyone’s shocked, but Sean’s happy and tells everyone it’s time to get back to work.
The next morning, while the other team members watch, Sean and Dawn dive under water and sit, pulling on a rope to see who can hold their breath longer. Dawn seems to be winning—Sean looks like he’s blacked out. She immediately surfaces, gets a breath of air, and dives down to save him. Suddenly, his eyes pop open: this was just part of his test for her. She can stay with the team—for now.
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Main Cast
