Multiple paddlers rescued after sailboat collides with outrigger canoe off Māʻalaea, Maui

The US Coast Guard and a good Samaritan rescued 11 people off Māʻalaea, Maui, Thursday. The rescue followed the collision of a 50-foot sailboat and 12-person outrigger canoe in Māʻalaea Bay. 

Coast Guard Sector Honolulu command center watchstanders received a call on VHF-FM channel 16 at around 8:05 a.m. from the sailing vessel Winona reporting a collision with an outrigger canoe with 11 adults aboard. The operator of the Winona reported that three people were in the water. 

The nearby Trilogy IV, a 65-foot catamaran, rescued three people from the water and brought the remaining people from the outrigger canoe aboard their vessel. 

Boat crew members from Coast Guard Station Maui launched a 45-foot Response Boat Medium and arrived on scene at 8:13 a.m.  

The boat crew transferred the rescued paddlers, including a woman with a minor injury, aboard the RB-M, with three remaining aboard the Trilogy IV. 

After the Coast Guard crew helped dewater the Winona, they escorted the vessel back to Māʻalaea Harbor, where emergency medical services personnel were waiting. 

The Trilogy II was able to refloat the outrigger canoe and tow it back to the Maui Canoe Club at Sugar Beach. 

Also on-scene were Maui Fire Department Engine 6 and Maui Ocean Safety.  

“We are very grateful to the crews of the Trilogy IV and Trilogy II for assisting in this rescue,” said Petty Officer 3^rd Class Gaberiel Cortes, Sector Honolulu watchstander. “This rescue not only demonstrates how tightknit the boating community is in Hawaiʻi, but also the importance of having a VHF radio on board your vessel or watercraft. The emergency radio call enabled the Coast Guard and other agencies to respond immediately.”