Sailboat pulled off Ala Wai reef

Advertiser Staff

Fire rescue crews pulled two men and two women from a sailboat early yesterday after it ran aground on the reef about a quarter-mile off Ala Wai Yacht Harbor.

The couple living aboard the 65-foot ketch Mystic called for help at 12:49 a.m., fire officials said.

They told officials they were hosting a couple from Canada and had left the harbor at 10 p.m. Thursday night, bound for Moloka'i.

The boat turned back when the owners realized the onboard radar system wasn't working, Capt. Richard Soo, Honolulu Fire Department spokes-man, said.

The boat's owner told Coast Guard officials that they missed the channel entrance and ran aground near the Kaiser's surfing spot, Petty Officer Justin Acosta said.

The Coast Guard called fire rescue crews, which used a 14-foot, shallow-draft Boston whaler to reach the Mystic, Soo said.

Rescue crews used a surfboard to bring the four people aboard to the whaler, and then to the fire boat in the channel that took them to shore.

A private tow-boat pulled the sailboat off the reef at about 5 p.m. yesterday and towed it into the harbor, Coast Guard Petty Officer Bradley Conway said.