Wave capsizes boat off Kapa‘a Friday

KAPA‘A — No injuries were reported Friday afternoon after a boat capsized in a series of large waves outside the reef in Kapa‘a.

The county reported that at approximately 4 p.m., first responders received a report of a capsized boat about a quarter of a mile out from the Pono Kai Resort.

The Kaua‘i Fire Department’s Ocean Safety Bureau roving unit and American Medical Response responded to the Kapa‘a Beach Park following reports of the distressed boat that was later identified as a 26-foot Sea Swirl fishing boat.

First responders saw two men hanging on top of the overturned boat, and OSB personnel launched a personal watercraft from the Waika‘ea Canal boat ramp.

Lifeguards pulled the two men off the boat and returned to the ramp, where AMR medics assessed their injuries.

According to witnesses on the scene, the boat was making its way back to the Waika‘ea Canal when a wave from a large swell struck the boat that carried two passengers, a 66-year-old man of Kapa‘a and a 69-year-old man of Kilauea, who sustained non-life threatening lacerations. Medics assisted both men and treated their wounds.

The capsized boat was a victim of the waves and current making its way from waters off the Kapa‘a swimming pool to just in front of the channel to the Waika‘ea Canal. Efforts to salvage the boat were turned over to a marine-salvage company after lifeguards returned to the capsized boat to see if they could pull it away from the reef, but were unsuccessful.

In the meantime, there were attempts from good Samaritan boaters to try and retrieve the stricken craft. These efforts were stymied by the large sets that pummeled the area.

The boat remained capsized in waters fronting the Kapa‘a swimming pool as of Saturday afternoon.

Officials from the state Department of Land and Natural Resources and the U.S. Coast Guard were notified of the incident.

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Dennis Fujimoto, staff writer and photographer, can be reached at 245-0453 or dfujimoto@thegardenisland.com.