Freak Waikiki Sailboat Accident Kills One, Critically Injures Another
Where: Oahu || Grouped in: Oahu Any Kine || Tagged:
You've probably already read about the accident, which happened on Dec. 2, if you arrived at this post. If not, quick recap.The catamaran Na Hoku II was sailing off Waikiki in fairly heavy winds with dozens of tourists aboard for an afternoon tourist run. The mast snapped in one and possibly several places. Cables atached the mast flailed around, smashing at least three people. A piece of the mast, apparently, fell on the top deck directly on top of a teenage visitor. He was pinned and it took quite a while to pry him loose. He was unresponsive the whole time and may have been killed by the inital impact. This was a totally freak accident, although the newspaper articles did raise questions about how often and rigorously tourism sailboats are inspected by state, county or federal authorities. Now, we happened to be staying in Waikiki yesterday at the New Otani Kaimana Beach Hotel which was situated right across Kapiolani Park from where the helicopters landed the two victims (including the teenage boy who was killed). We were actually playing at Kaimana Beach when I noticed three lifeguards clustered around their radio listening very intently and looking out at the ocean.
I couldn't tell what was happening but from their body language it appeared something really serious had occured. Then I saw the helicopter with a rescue basket attached circling a boat. A lifeguard raced out on a jetski toward the boat. The copter circled for some time, dangling an empty basket. Then it flew towards shore with someone in the basket. All along, we'd heard fire engine sirens coming towards us and several had pulled up on Kalakua Blvd across from the beach. Everyone on the beach was riveted as the helicopter landed the basket. Then it flew right back out to sea so I thought this had to be a very serious serious accident. It truly was. This sounded like one of the more gruesome, terrifying tourism incidents of the year, right up there with the helicopter crashes and hiking tumbles off sheer hillsides. I hope that all the injured parties make it and my heart goes out to the family of that poor boy who didn't. In all my years in Hawaii, I've never witnessed as tense a situation on the beach.
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Comments
phillip said:
I took a tourist catamaran sailboat from Maui to Lanai and back about a decade ago, and on the return the mast snapped, fell back toward us, and we ducked. I thought “what if the cables had flailed and hit someone?”. I assumed it was extremely rare. I don’t think anyone on our boat was injured, but maybe this is happening more often that has been realized.
—12/02/06
Doug said:
I’m a sailor, but I don’t have any specific information regarding this particular incident. However, unlike a monohull sailboat, the mast on many catamarans pivots at the spot where they meet the deck. Furthermore, many catamarans do not have a backstay (cable from stern of vessel to top of mast). When monohull sailboats have a mast failure it typically falls over the leeward (i.e. downwind) side of the boat, unless the backstay or forestay also fails. When a catamaran breaks her mast, the lack of backstay and the pivot at the deck give it so many “degrees of freedom” that the pieces of the mast could end up falling in darn near any direction.
Also, from the photos I’ve seen in the media, it’s possible that this kid was pinned under the boom (the horizontal spar along the foot of the mainsail) and not the mast. Again, I acknowledge that I WAS NOT there.
It is definitely a sad story.
—12/04/06