Presumed PPJers Assisted Off Hawaii

The Honolulu Coast Guard reports that the crew of the sailboat Kehaulani were given 40 gallons of diesel and assistance in repairing damaged sails by the crew of the 134-ft steel, brigantine-rigged research and sail training vessel Robert C. Seamans. The skipper of Kehaulani had contacted the Coasties via sat phone the evening of October 29, after their sails were torn and he realized he didn’t have enough fuel aboard to make Hilo. The Coast Guard put out a call to mariners, and the skipper of the Robert C. Seamans, just 150 miles away, coordinated a successful rendezvous the following morning.

We haven’t received official confirmation but we believe Kehaulani to be the Portland, OR-based Caliber 40 owned by John and Patricia Harris, 66 and 63 respectively, who signed up for this year’s Pacific Puddle Jump. According to the profile they provided, the couple would have crossed their outbound track in French Polynesia, completing a four-year circumnavigation. They noted that they planned to sail to Hawaii in the fall, leave Kehaulani for the winter, then head to Puget Sound next summer. We hope the rest of their trip is uneventful.