By Walter Wright
Advertiser Staff Writer

A Japanese fisheries training vessel, the Funakawa Maru, rescued four people off a dismasted sailboat 300 miles southwest of the Big Island this morning, The Coast Guard said.

The 43-foot sailboat Goodnight Moon was dismasted Saturday evening, and the Coast Guard was notified by the boat’s emergency position indicating radar beacon.

The Funakawa Maru, which was in the area, met the disabled sailboat and its passengers at about 10:30 a.m. today.

The training vessel took the four people aboard and is towing the sailboat to intercept with the tugboat American Quest for tow to a port which has not yet been selected.

The Coast Guard coordinated another rescue yesterday when the ship Pearl Venus picked up three people in a life raft after the 45-foot fishing catamaran, Naia Lele III, sank about 85 nautical miles southwest of Kona at 7 a.m. today.

The Coast Guard was alerted by the Naia Lele III’s emergency position indicating radar beacon at 7:16 a.m., and dispatched the Pearl Venus, a commercial vessel which is part of the Automated Mutual Assistance Vessel Rescue System, to the scene.

The Coast Guard also launched a C-130 rescue aircraft and an H-65 “Dolphin” rescue helicopter from Coast Guard Air Station Barbers Point to the scene.