Storm brings tragedy: One still missing after sailboat capsizes off Kona coast

From West Hawaii Today

By Bret Yager

A crewman of a 75-foot sailboat remained missing late Saturday afternoon, following a fierce winter storm that capsized the vessel north of Kua Bay in North Kona around daybreak and sent five to the hospital.

County rescue crews and the U.S. Coast Guard combed rough surf for sign of the Hawaii Aloha’s first mate on Saturday afternoon. The vessel, operated by Youth With A Mission Kona, had left Kailua Bay and apparently capsized several miles offshore while in search of a safer place to ride out the storm. The boat’s captain was hospitalized with non-life threatening injuries at North Hawaii Community Hospital and three students were released uninjured Saturday.

After receiving weather alerts from the National Weather Service Friday night, the boat headed six miles out to sea to ride out the weather, according to a statement from YWAM Ships communication director Phil Cunningham. The boat was cutting into rough waves about four miles from shore when two waves caught the hull broadside, flipping it twice. The crew shot off flares, and four of the five abandoned ship into a life raft, according to YWAM. Two jet ski operators rescued the crew after spotting the flares.

Winds peaked at 50 mph off the Kona coast Saturday night with steep seven-foot waves, according to National Weather Service data.

While the hull of the boat rocked in the surf near near the Four Seasons Resort Hualalai at Historic Kaupulehu, its two masts missing, students and others affiliated with Youth With A Mission cleaned rubber fenders, a hatch door and bags of other debris off the beach on Saturday afternoon.

The boat was set to leave on a humanitarian mission to Christmas Island on Tuesday and was loaded with supplies for the trip.

With a motto to “sail, study, serve,” the YWAM Ships based in Kailua-Kona and Orange County engage in student-driven outreach in the South Pacific and beyond, bringing medical and dental services, education and clean water initiatives. The families of the crew have been notified. This was the first marine tragedy for the organization, Cunningham said.

Daniel Mersburgh, the state Division of Boating and Ocean Recreation Hawaii District Manager, said the boat’s owner has been tasked with creating a salvage plan.