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Channel Race winner, others help save boat
by The Garden Island
NAWILIWILI — At around 10:30 p.m. Saturday night, word filtered through the crowd at the Nawiliwili Yacht Club’s annual Kauai Channel Race Awards Dinner that a 30-foot sailboat had broken its mooring and was in danger of sinking.
Talk about the right crowd at the right time.
High winds were dashing the Sea Star against the rocks at the end of the loading dock opposite the Coast Guard station when NYC Chairman Tony Le Hoven and Hawaii Superferry Vice Chairman Tim Dick arrived.
The boat’s mast “was in danger of damaging the navigation light marking the end of the jetty,” Dick said in an e-mail to The Garden Island.
Dick said the owner of the boat could not be located, and though it was not a life-threatening situation, the Coast Guard was called due to the danger posed to the navigation light, and the potential of a vessel sinking in a high-traffic area of the harbor.
“It was quickly realized that Sea Star would not last until Coast Guard resources could mobilize,” Dick said.
Instead, Steve Layne, owner of the nearby Garden Isle Inn, towed the troubled boat off the rocks with his twin engine Boston Whaler.
“Sea Star lurched a couple of times under the Whaler’s tow and then floated off the rocks to the applause of the crowd,” Dick said.
Layne towed the boat to the middle of the turning basin in the harbor and waited until the Coast Guard arrived to take her back to the loading dock behind Hokulea.
For Dick, it was the end to an exciting day — he won the Kauai Channel Race earlier that day.
Talk about the right crowd at the right time.
High winds were dashing the Sea Star against the rocks at the end of the loading dock opposite the Coast Guard station when NYC Chairman Tony Le Hoven and Hawaii Superferry Vice Chairman Tim Dick arrived.
The boat’s mast “was in danger of damaging the navigation light marking the end of the jetty,” Dick said in an e-mail to The Garden Island.
Dick said the owner of the boat could not be located, and though it was not a life-threatening situation, the Coast Guard was called due to the danger posed to the navigation light, and the potential of a vessel sinking in a high-traffic area of the harbor.
“It was quickly realized that Sea Star would not last until Coast Guard resources could mobilize,” Dick said.
Instead, Steve Layne, owner of the nearby Garden Isle Inn, towed the troubled boat off the rocks with his twin engine Boston Whaler.
“Sea Star lurched a couple of times under the Whaler’s tow and then floated off the rocks to the applause of the crowd,” Dick said.
Layne towed the boat to the middle of the turning basin in the harbor and waited until the Coast Guard arrived to take her back to the loading dock behind Hokulea.
For Dick, it was the end to an exciting day — he won the Kauai Channel Race earlier that day.
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puput wrote on Apr 3, 2009 10:19 AM: