KAILUA-KONA — Three Big Island men were rescued without incident Wednesday after their boat sank roughly 2.5 miles off the coast of Hapuna Beach.
The Bobo Link, a 48-foot sailing vessel, began taking on water Wednesday afternoon after a patch on the bow failed, said Tyler Peterson, Coast Guard Operation Unit Controller at Sector Honolulu.
The boat’s pumps were unable to keep pace with the water flow and the passengers — Steven Jenkins, 48, the owner and operator of the vessel; Brandan Jenkins, 23; and Nathan Gibson, 43 — abandoned ship into a life raft equipped with telephone access.
From there, they contacted the Hawaii County Fire Department by phone, which deployed a helicopter and a jet ski in the rescue effort.
Peterson said the mariners were lucky as the Coast Guard had a cutter approximately 10 miles away from the site of the incident, which isn’t typical in Big Island waters.
The HFD chopper made initial contact with the stranded boaters and hovered over them until the cutter arrived.
All three men were brought aboard safely and were en route to Kawaihae late Wednesday afternoon, Peterson said.