NAWILIWILI —When Kaua‘i Police Department officer Richard Rosa returned from fishing yesterday, he told his young daughter he had a different catch than usual. “Look honey,” Rosa said to his pre-school-age girl, “I caught a 175-pound haole man.” The “catch”
NAWILIWILI —When Kaua‘i Police Department officer Richard Rosa returned from fishing yesterday, he told his young daughter he had a different catch than usual.
“Look honey,” Rosa said to his pre-school-age girl, “I caught a 175-pound haole man.”
The “catch” was Gregory Bennett, an avid sailor whose 31-foot trimaran capsized about 25 miles from Kaua‘i sometime Thursday night.
Rosa, along with crew Kaipo Hanohano and Troy Sakaguchi, found Bennett at around 9:30 a.m. yesterday morning, standing on top of the black hull of his boat, waving a swim fin around in the air.
Bennett, who was sailing from Kaua‘i to O‘ahu by himself to visit his son, was only able to salvage the one fin, one tabi, and a propane tank after his 12-hour ordeal, said Sakaguchi, 20, of Lihu‘e.
Bennett was more than a little happy to be alive.
“Today is my birthday. It’s my new birthday,” said Bennett, 57, outside the U.S. Coast Guard station after reaching dry land. “It’s almost cosmic.”
Bennett said he left Hanalei Thursday afternoon, and, at around 10 p.m. Thursday, he hit something in the water. The “something” cracked one of the hulls, leaving the tri-hull a catamaran.
The change in balance flipped the boat over, and Bennett, a former Kauaian now a San Diego resident, was in the water.
“The scariest part of the whole thing was diving underneath at night” to try to activate the emergency position-indicating radio beacon (EPIRB), Bennett said. “The main hull was pretty submerged. I had to find a pocket of air” in the dark.
He couldn’t get to the distress beacon, and figured he’d be out in Kaua‘i Channel alone for days.
“I’m not even thoroughly sunburned yet,” he quipped. “I was beside myself” when he saw the boat.
Bennett said he was standing on the hull, looking toward O‘ahu, when he turned around to see Rosa’s boat.
“He’s lucky,” Rosa said. “We thought he was a log or a periscope.”
As they came up closer, Bennett said he just kept waving until they were within earshot. Soon after, Bennett made a quick swim to the upright boat.
But that’s when, Bennett said, the crew truly showed their aloha.
Instead of steaming to shore, Rosa, Hanohano, and Sakaguchi called the Coast Guard and waited, said Bennett.
Plying Bennett, who was in good shape, full of water and sodas, the four men circled the submerged boat, waiting for other fishing vessels to take the Global Positioning System (GPS) coordinates so Bennett could find his boat again.
“They were just awesome,” Bennett said of his well-stocked rescuers.
Bennett said he really appreciated the trio of fisherman waiting for the positioning, since his wallet and other valuables remain on the “now catamaran.”
He said he plans on diving for his stuff today, but not without a scuba tank, or at night, this time.
Bennett said he’s been sailing “over here for many years,” but never had anything occur like this.
“It was quite an experience,” he said. “It was a great effort.”
Tom Finnegan, staff writer, may be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 252) or tfinnegan@pulitzer.net.
