Posted at 3:56 a.m., Monday, October 1, 2007
Sailboat hung up at Tonggs; 3 make it safely to shore
Advertiser Staff
Three men sailing to Hawaii from California came within two miles of their destination, the Ala Wai Small Boat Harbor, before getting hung up a reef on one of O'ahu's most popular south-side surf breaks, Tonggs.The Honolulu Fire Department responded to the boaters in distress call shortly before 1 a.m. but left the scene about an hour later without removing the boat or the men, who told them they weren't in danger at the time and wanted to stay on the boat until daylight, possibly to get the boat upright again with the high tide.
However, shortly before 3 a.m. one of the men on the boat called his wife, who had flown in from California to meet them, and said the boat started taking on water and was sinking, but that the boat's captain and owner didn't want to leave.
A rescue team from the fire department returned to help the trio leave the vessel, which is about 300 yards off shore, and two neighbors from the area paddled out in kayaks and a surfboard to also help.
All three men made it to shore without injury, but the boat is still on the reef this morning awaiting a salvage company's help to tow it away.
"Thousands of miles across the sea and we get within eyesight of our destination and this happens," one of the rescued men said. "I'm taking a plane back."
