A catamaran that lost its mast Sunday, killing a man aboard a whale-watching cruise off West Maui, experienced broken masts twice before, Coast Guard records show.

No one was injured in the previous incidents, one at sea in 1991 and one in dry dock in 1996.

The 1991 incident occurred when a bar that holds the main mast upright and in place failed, the records show. The mast was replaced, and the replacement broke during repairs in 1996.

Maui officials yesterday identified Sunday's victim as Hal Pulfer, 48, of Highland Park, Ill. He was on the cruise with his wife and three children, ages 7, 10 and 12. An autopsy was scheduled for today.

Pulfer, owner and president of Munde-lein, Ill.-based Security Locknut, which makes nuts, bolts and washers, had snorkeled before going on the sunset whale-watching trip, Pulfer's sister, Karen Focht of Memphis, Tenn., told the Chicago Tribune.

"They lived a really perfect life," Focht said. "He's a great dad and she's a great mom. They've got great kids, and he had this growing business. He's really done a wonderful job with that business. He was in the prime of his life, and to have it all taken away with a blow of the wind, it's unbelievable."

The Coast Guard found much of the sunken catamaran near Moloka'i, Petty Officer Luke Clayton said last night.

"It was broken up into different pieces but a portion of the hull was on the reef," Clayton said. "Other pieces were drifting around everywhere."

He said the Coast Guard will assess the situation today and decide if divers should retrieve the wreckage.

A 57-year-old Hawai'i man and a 46-year-old Hawai'i woman were injured in the accident and taken to Maui Memorial Medical Center, said county spokeswoman Mahina Martin. The man was released Sunday and the woman was in stable condition yesterday, she said.

Representatives of the catamaran's owner, the Hyatt Regency Maui Resort and Spa, declined to comment on the previous mast breaks. Representatives would not say anything beyond a written statement.

"We are deeply saddened by this accident, and our concern is for those who have been affected by this tragic event. We are in direct contact with the Coast Guard and other authorities involved to understand how the accident happened," said Frank Lavey, a spokesman for the resort, in a news release. "In the meantime, our attention is focused on attending to the people involved."

TWO MILES OFFSHORE

The Kiele V was about two miles off Kahana Beach near Ka'anapali Beach, Maui, at 5:09 p.m. when the crew called for help over marine radio channel 16 and through a 911 phone call, the Coast Guard said yesterday.

The crew reported that the vessel's mast had broken.

Pulfer was well-loved, according to Scott Clements of Minneapolis, who had known him since grade school in Glenview, Ill.

"Hal was one of those guys who didn't have a single enemy in the entire universe. Everyone loved him, and he was the guy who made sure everybody was happy and having fun together," Clements said.

The captain of a catamaran that responded to the stricken vessel's call for help said a nurse who happened to be aboard the Kiele V worked for half an hour to revive Pulfer, who was sitting on the right forward part of the catamaran when he apparently was struck by the falling mast and rigging.

His body was wrapped in towels and placed on a bench, said Gemini tour boat Senior Capt. JD DuShane.

The Coast Guard said the death is the subject of an investigation and declined to give details, such as where along the mast the break occurred, why it broke, and how long it took the vessel to sink.

"It is a tragedy whenever we have a loss of life in the maritime community. These types of cases do happen, especially when the winds change suddenly," said Coast Guard Lt. John Titchen at a news conference.

"As any mariner in Hawai'i can attest, anytime you put out to sea, the weather can change in an instant."

Speaking before the wreckage was found, he said the investigation will be complicated because much of the physical evidence was lost when the vessel sank.

Two Coast Guard investigators on Maui hoped to interview all aboard the vessel at the time of the accident. The crew and captain will be drug-tested and interviewed.

Coast Guard personnel on the scene reported seas of 6 feet and winds of 20 to 30 mph, with stronger gusts.

The Kiele V had 52 people aboard, including four crew.

Capt. DuShane, of the Gemini catamaran, said the losses could have been greater, as there were about 20 children aboard, some as young as 18 months old. "We were lucky we were just 15 minutes away," he said.

He was at the helm of a whale-watch cruise Sunday off Ka'anapali when he received a distress call that the Kiele V had lost its mast and was foundering in rough seas farther north. Another catamaran, the Teralani 3, also went to the rescue.

"Help me, help me. I need your help now," said the captain of the stricken vessel, DuShane said.

The Gemini arrived 15 minutes later to find the Kiele V with its mast and sails collapsed into the ocean, dragging the 55-foot catamaran underwater, and "blood all over the right side of the boat" where a passenger had suffered a fatal head blow, said DuShane.

40-KNOT WINDS

After receiving the distress call, DuShane immediately headed for the Kiele V's location about two miles off Kahana, advising the 27 passengers aboard the 64-foot Gemini to prepare to take on additional passengers from the crippled vessel. The passengers were directed into the catamaran's cabin for the rugged sail to Kahana in 40-knot winds and seas of 8 to 10 feet.

"I prepared them for the worst. I told them, 'We're on a rescue mission now, we're no longer on a whale watch,' " he said.

When he got his first look at the damaged Kiele V, he realized "the worst had happened."

"It was sideways to the swells and taking on water. It was a very dangerous situation. The passengers were wearing life vests, and everybody was bunched to the driest part of the boat," forward of the cabin. The bow was pointing out of the water at a 60-degree angle, he said.

"Her mast and boom were on the right side of the boat, pulling the back of the boat underwater."

The Kiele V's captain was wearing a snorkel and mask, clinging to the stern in a frantic attempt to cut through the rigging with a hacksaw, DuShane said.

DuShane said he positioned his boat 50 to 100 feet behind the Kiele V, and Gemini crew members donned fins, masks and snorkels to swim over to the disabled catamaran to help with the evacuation of passengers. They guided an inflatable lifeboat back and forth between the two vessels, carrying 15 passengers at time.

The passengers were clearly traumatized, DuShane said, and some were weeping. "They were shook up. It was a life-and-death situation. It was very hair-raising. They were very, very relieved to get on the boat. They had been through a very harrowing situation."

The Teralani 3, and the Coast Guard assisted, and a Maui Fire Department helicopter airlifted the injured ashore.

DuShane said the Kiele V captain is an experienced sailor, and he called the actions of the Kiele V crew "very heroic."

"They were very professional under very stressful conditions" and kept passengers calm during the evacuation, he said.

DuShane said he did not want to speculate on what caused the mast to break.

Maui's tour-boat industry "is a very tight community," DuShane said. "It hit us hard. It was a very somber day for us, realizing you just cannot take for granted what we have out here and the conditions that we operate in. Everyone needs to be on your toes at all times."

According to catamaran builder Choydesign's Web site, the Kiele V was built in 1980 for Hyatt Maui developer Chris Hemmeter at a cost of $550,000 and was named after Hemmeter's daughter, Kelly. It was built specifically for tour use and was considered a pioneering luxury tour catamaran, according to the Web site.

It was 54.5 feet long, with a 65-foot mast and a passenger capacity of 49.

The last full-scale inspection of the Kiele V was completed in September 2006. The vessel passed inspection and was certified for safe use for the next five years. The Coast Guard conducts smaller-scale inspections of vessels like the Kiele V every year.

COAST GUARD RESPONDS

The Coast Guard responded to Sunday's call with a 47-foot motor lifeboat from Station Maui at Ma'alaea Harbor, a small boat from the icebreaker Polar Sea and an HH-65 Dolphin helicopter from Air Station Barbers Point.

The previous mast breaks occurred in a five-year span in the 1990s.

Coast Guard records show that inspectors took photos and interviewed the then-captain of the Kiele V on May 10, 1991, some time after the first mast broke. The records do not say when the mast broke, but do attribute the break to a "failure of lower port spreader bar and mainmast." The lower port spreader bar helps hold the mainmast of the catamaran upright and in place.

The Coast Guard records have no details about what happened at sea, including how many were aboard. The records show Coast Guard inspectors boarded the Kiele V in the Ala Wai harbor on June 21, 1991, and inspected a newly installed mainmast.

Investigators determined the mainmast installation was "satisfactory" although "no operational tests (were) made due to sails not being installed and that the mast had not been properly tuned," according to Coast Guard inspection archives.

The records also show Coast Guard inspectors approved the installation of another mast in 1996 after the previous mast broke in dry dock.

Coast Guard records also show the vessel was involved in some sort of at-sea collision involving a marine mammal in April 2006. No other information was available yesterday.

Reach Peter Boylan at pboylan@honoluluadvertiser.com and Christie Wilson at cwilson@honoluluadvertiser.com.