the boat was on an illegal charter, one of many over the last year, they had only 5 gallons of diesel onboard, in a can, not enough to operate the boat safely, I say them many times sailing in and out of Ala wai dangerously close to the reef (ie not out to R2) the tourists had to be rescued. as a result every boater in Hawaii waters, except transients, will need new "debris removal" insurance before they get any new permits from DLNR.
I have been sailing around Hawaiian waters since 1986 in a small home built boat and have never run aground or seen such STUPIDITY!!! Not only that, but because of bloody fools like this, all boat owners have to suffer and most likely have our insurance policies increased exponentially. One has to wonder if perhaps this yacht was sacrificed as an EXCUSE to raise all our insurances????? Was this an "Insurance job" ?????
Absolutely no excuse for this. With today’s technology and the equipment available to the industry there had to have been several willful violations standard safe operating procedures…. Starting hours or even weeks before the event. I hauled passengers safely on the ocean for 30 years. Long before todays regulations. No excuse….operator will loose his license for sure.
They’re using the sails trying to heel it over to the decrease their draft in order to free themselves from the reef and use the motor the get out of it
