By Tino Ramirez
Advertiser North Shore Bureau
HALE‘IWA — To promote safe boating, give the public an up-close look at rescue techniques and teach boaters rescue protocols, a morning-long boating safety festival will be held Saturday at Hale‘iwa Small Boat Harbor.
| Experts share information
 When: 9 a.m. to noon Saturday.
Where: Hale‘iwa Small Boat Harbor.
More: For information about the festival, call 637-8246 or 522-8255. During the demonstrations, the harbor's ramps and breakwaters will be closed, and vessels will not be allowed to enter. |
The first-of-its-kind event was proposed by Paul Sensano, harbormaster at Hale‘iwa. He said the staff at Hawai‘i's small-boat harbors have noticed over the years that recreational fishermen lack equipment that would make their boats safer and make it easier to rescue them.
Boats in trouble are almost a daily occurrence in Hawaiian waters, Sensano said. Favorable seas and winds can change rapidly, fuel can run low and equipment fail.
Last October, for example, two men on a day trip crossed from O‘ahu to Moloka‘i, where their engine failed and set them adrift. Since their 14-foot boat had no VHF radio or emergency position indicating radio beacon (EPIRB), it took nearly three days of air searches to find them, 60 miles off Kahuku, O‘ahu's northernmost point.
"They weren't prepared," Sensano said. "They didn't have the necessary equipment that would have let the Coast Guard and the fire department track them down. If they had had an EPIRB they would have been located just like that."
Saturday's festival will feature vendors displaying the latest safety equipment and tours of the Coast Guard cutter Kittiwake, as well as rescue demonstrations by the Coast Guard, city lifeguards and the fire department.
A visit by paramedics is also planned, to give boaters tips on what to do when someone is injured at sea. The Coast Guard and its auxiliary will give safety inspections to boaters concerned about their preparedness.
The rescue demonstrations will be narrated and give boaters valuable insight, Sensano said. For example, the Coast Guard will perform a sea-to-helicopter rescue in the harbor's turnaround basin, where viewers can get a good look and eavesdrop over the public address system to radio communications as the operation unfolds.
"Recreational fishermen should know what it's like to have a Coast Guard helicopter hovering 15 or 20 feet over them, and know what to do," Sensano said. "When you're at the helm and you're in distress, they instruct you on a lot of things. They give you a bearing and a speed, tell you which way to turn your boat and how fast to go.
"And how many people know that when they lower a rope, you don't touch it at first? You let it hit the vessel and then you grab it. Because of the static electricity, if you grab it before it's grounded, you risk getting zapped."
If attendance is good and participating agencies deem the festival a success, Sensano said, he hopes events like it can be held statewide.
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