Serendipity saved the lives of two Kaua’i fishermen, George Whitten and Larry Dolan, in rough open ocean in west Kaua’i last Saturday. Whitten of Koloa and Dolan of Kalaheo drifted for 4 1/2 hours after Whitten’s 16-foot Radon fishing boat
Serendipity saved the lives of two Kaua’i fishermen, George Whitten and Larry Dolan, in rough open ocean in west Kaua’i last Saturday.
Whitten of Koloa and Dolan of Kalaheo drifted for 4 1/2 hours after Whitten’s 16-foot Radon fishing boat was hit by a 15-to-20-foot swell, was swamped and capsized two miles off Pakala Beach around noon.
In swell-churning water, the men laid on the boat’s hull to avoid shark attacks, fought hypothermia, offered last prayers and almost gave up hope for any rescue.
By 5 p.m., their hope for help was answered by the Koloa Kai, a fishing boat captained by William Abara with seven local fishermen aboard. They had returned from a fishing trip to Ni’ihau and were aboard the last boat that returned to Port Allen Harbor that day.
The Koloa Kai brought the two men safely back to the harbor, where they were given food and clothes by family and friends of the rescuers aboard the Koloa Kai.
“Just remembering that brought me close to tears,” Dolan said. “Those are the most wonderful people I have ever met in my life.”
Dolan, a retired “property master” in the movie business, and Whitten, an employee at Nihi Kai Villas, a condominium project in Po’ipu, started their trip at 7 a.m. from Kekaha.
They caught two fish by 11:30 a.m. The second catch gave them cause for concern because a ten-pound ahi was torn in half by what the two men believed was a shark.
The men cleaned the deck, but they feared some of the blood lingered in the water around the boat, raising the risk for shark attacks, Dolan said.
Between noon and 12:30 p.m., the men snagged a third fish. Dolan was steering the boat when a wave between 15 to 20 feet high hit the starboard side of the boat, and it took on a “foot of water” and listed heavily to the side, Dolan said.
“I started yelling to George, and he dropped his fish,” he said. Within eight seconds the boat capsized.
Dolan said the ship contained flares but no emergency beacon that could send a signal to Coast Guard facilities on Kaua’i or on O’ahu.
But neither Dolan nor Whitten could have gotten to the flares (for use at night if need be) because the boat capsized too quickly for them to act, Dolan said.
Both men found themselves under the boat, with Dolan being hit on the head “by something” but managing to swim to the surface. Whitten surfaced on the port side of the boat.
Two miles from shore, they immediately climbed onto the hull, Dolan said.
Dolan and Whitten are veteran freshmen; Dolan has fished in waters in southern California and Whitten has fished off Oregon, Alaska and Hawai’i. But Hawaiian waters are more unpredictable and dangerous, Dolan said.
In the hours after the boat capsized, the men fought the ocean. They fell into the water repeatedly and scrambled back onto the hull, Dolan said.
They were afraid that traces of blood from the second fish they had caught earlier lingered about the boat and might draw sharks, Dolan said. Whitten said they saw none, but both men were kept constantly on edge.
Dolan said they saw five tour boats ply waters off the coastline, and waved at and screamed at them “until our throats got dry, but no one heard.”
Dolan said he and Whitten were at least one mile south of the “tour boat lanes” at the time. Because the boats were far away, those on board could neither see nor hear them calling for help, Dolan speculated.
Dolan said he and his friend began feeling the effects of hypothermia and exhaustion after three hours at sea.
Their hopes of recovery dimmed as they drifted more and more out to sea, Dolan said.
The men told jokes, “put their lives in perspective,” offered prayers, “made amends” and prepared themselves for the worse, Dolan said.
But instinctively, they still held out hope that they could be rescued, Dolan said. As nighttime approached, Dolan estimated the boat had drifted five miles from shore, somewhere between Kekaha and Port Allen.
At some point, the men thought about swimming to shore, but decided against doing that because they feared they might be overcome by hypothermia and the currents and drown.
At 5 p.m., Dolan said he and Whitten saw another boat on the horizon, a red boat, and waved frantically with their remaining strength.
It was the Koloa Kai, and a crewmember aboard, Peter Kali, spotted the men and informed Abara.
Dolan said he was later told his rescuers thought he and Whitten were kayakers operating under their own steam, and, as a result, Abara was ready to pass the men by.
Abara told Dolan that he only stopped when he and others thought how strange it was that kayakers would be so far out to sea.
Because the water was still choppy, it took about 30 minutes before the two men were brought on board the rescue boat. The boat then powered back to Port Allen.
Abara radioed his family on shore that “he was coming in on a rescue, and when we pulled in, the crew of the family brought food, soup, rice, dry clothes and aloha,” Dolan said.
As for the Radon fishing boat, the Koloa Kai tried to tow it back to shore, but couldn’t because the water was rough, Dolan said. It was left floating five miles southwest of Port Allen Saturday night, Dolan said.
Whitten reported the incident to the Coast Guard, and on Monday afternoon, some crew members of the Koloa Kai found the capsized boat floating about three miles off Barking Sands and attempted to tow it in.
The Koloa Kai crew members got the boat upright, but their efforts to bring it home were stalled temporarily because the boat capsized again, Dolan said. The boat was later brought back to the port, Dolan said.
Dolan said his rescue at sea offered him the chance to go ocean fishing another day, but he said jokingly he won’t consider it again unless it is aboard a “120-footer (fishing boat).”
Dolan said he has never encountered a situation as dangerous as the one he escaped from Saturday.
“We were in a life and death situation,” he said. “It was about survival (with luck), and they (Abara and his crew) deserve all the recognition for the rescue.”
Whitten said: “We are just very lucky to be alive.”
Staff writer Lester Chang can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 225) and mailto:lchang@pulitzer.net
