A man who was stranded near the Nawiliwili Harbor breakwater Monday night after picking ‘opihi was rescued by officers from U.S. Coast Guard Station Kaua‘i. According to Coast Guard officials, Gabriel Hurtado, 24, of Hanama‘ulu, was picking ‘opihi near Carter
A man who was stranded near the Nawiliwili Harbor breakwater Monday night after picking ‘opihi was rescued by officers from U.S. Coast Guard Station Kaua‘i.
According to Coast Guard officials, Gabriel Hurtado, 24, of Hanama‘ulu, was picking ‘opihi near Carter Point, near where the breakwater meets the land, after paddling his surfboard from Kalapaki Beach.
As day turned to dusk, officials said, Hurtado realized he couldn’t make it back to shore.
“Gabe was kind of stuck there,” said Petty Officer Steven Allenbach. “He was sitting on a rock with just a pair of board shorts.”
So Hurtado found a camper near the point who had a cell phone, Allenbach said. And the Coast Guard was dispatched for the rescue.
When they arrived, Allenbach said, Hurtado was shivering on the rocks, waiting for help. So officers manning the 23-foot Coast Guard rigid-hull inflatable vessel angled as close as possible, and got Hurtado onto their vessel.
They supplied the Hanama‘ulu resident with clothes and took him back to shore, where the first-aid-trained officers deemed Hurtado had the first signs of hypothermia, the officer said. County fire and private ambulance personnel responded, and Hurtado was taken to Wilcox Memorial Hospital aboard an American Medical Response ambulance, he added.
Allenbach said that the rescue is a relatively common occurrence for U.S. Coast Guard Station Kaua‘i officers. There are 19 persons assigned to the station.
Coast Guard officials perform similar rescues, as well as boat rescues, and track down missing boaters about once or twice a month, Allenbach said.
“Most involve (situations) like this,” Allenbach said of the Hurtado rescue.
Their primary mission, he said, is search and rescue and law enforcement. And, surprisingly, Allenbach said the two are related.
While Coast Guard officers are also on the front lines of protecting Kaua‘i from a terrorist attack, they also enforce federal laws regarding sea-going vessels.
“It’s a lot of preventative measures,” Allenbach added.
They make sure vessels have the appropriate safety equipment, so when a search-and-rescue mission occurs, the people on the vessel are able to signal for help and stay afloat until Coast Guard officers can get there, he said.
“It’s all for a good cause: safety,” he said.
