COURTESY NATIONAL COAST GUARD
Four Coast Guard personnel and four of the seven survivors of the yacht Cowabunga arrived at Nawiliwili Harbor after the boat sank Monday.
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The Coast Guard rescued seven people after their 30-foot yacht sank 29 miles off Kaena Point early Monday morning.
The Coast Guard received a mayday call and distress signal from an emergency radio beacon from the Cowabunga.
The yacht’s captain reported the sailboat began taking on water at about 12:40 a.m.
The Cowabunga was returning to Oahu after participating in Friday’s Kauai Channel Race from Kaneohe Yacht Club to Nawiliwili, said Jesse Andrews, sailing director at the Kaneohe Yacht Club.
All seven people aboard the Cowabunga abandoned ship and went into the water with life jackets. All were experienced mariners. No one was injured.
A 45-foot response boat from Oahu, 47-foot motor lifeboat from Kauai, and the 110-foot cutter Galveston Island responded along with an MH-65 Dolphin helicopter and C-130 from Barbers Point.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration ship Oscar Elton Sette also was diverted to assist.
The helicopter arrived on scene first, lowered a rescue swimmer with a life raft and lifted four of the mariners into the aircraft at about 1:50 a.m. They were flown to Lihue Airport.
The three remaining crew members waited in the life raft. The motor life boat arrived on scene at about 3:43 a.m. and took them and the rescue swimmer back to Nawiliwili Harbor.
Three of the crew members traveled to Oahu on Monday morning, and four remained on Kauai, where the American Red Cross Hawaii chapter found them hotel rooms, said Jennifer Walter, the Red Cross’ manager of response and preparedness.
The Red Cross was working on getting the four remaining crew members to Oahu, Walter said.