Injured Puddle Jumper Evacuated

Around 5:45 a.m. on Thursday, April 1, a crewmember aboard the Pacific Puddle Jump boat Wind Child was injured during an accidental jibe. Michael Kalahar, 57, was reportedly sitting at the forward end of the cockpit when the Beneteau First 36s7’s preventer failed, sending the boom sweeping across the cockpit. Instead of being hit in the head — a common injury during accidental jibes — Kalahar’s throat was snagged by the mainsheet, slamming his head into a winch and pinning him against the bulkhead. According to boat owner Rudy Heessels’s blog, crewmember Kevin Hendricks, a former paramedic, restarted Kalahar’s breathing and tended to his deeply lacerated head.

Coast Guard Duty Marine Investigator Al Daniel told us that a Coast Guard C-130 flew four Air National Guard pararescuers to Wind Child‘s location, 1,400 miles southwest of San Diego. Once in the water, the rescuers inflated a small boat and made their way to the sailboat, where they stabilized Kalahar. Wind Child then rendezvoused with the AMVER vessel Cap Palmserston, and Kalahar was transferred to their infirmary for the trip to San Diego.

Last night, a few hundred miles out, Kalahar and the pararescuers were medevac’d to the hospital, where he is in stable condition. Scans show small areas of trauma to the brain that reportedly shouldn’t be a problem, but he was still unable to swallow at this writing. His esophagus and larynx will be examined today.

As for the Sequim, WA-based Wind Child, a vet of last fall’s Baja Ha-Ha, her four remaining crew — Rudy Heesels, Dave Taylor, Kevin Hendricks and Lawrence Hettick — are continuing on to French Polynesia . . . no doubt with dampened enthusiasm. Our thoughts are with the crew and Kalahar.