HONOLULU - The following is a weekend wrap up of the routine distress cases the Coast Guard responded to Thursday through Sunday. Rescue crews from several Coast Guard units - including Air Station Barbers Point, Station Maui and Station Honolulu and the Cutter Ahi - the Honolulu Fire Department and Marine Corps Base Kaneohe water front operations responded to mariners in distress.

Sunday evening, the skipper of a 21-foot pleasure boat contacted the Coast Guard Sector Honolulu watchstander reporting the vessel was aground in the vicinity of Kaneohe Bay. The skipper was concerned because nightfall was approaching and he was concerned for his passenger and his safety and for getting the boat off the reef. The Coast Guard contacted Marine Corps Base Kaneohe's water front operations for assistance. The water front operations crew safely towed the stranded vessel and the two passengers off the reef and then safely escorted them to He'eai Kea Small Boat Harbor.

Early Saturday morning, the harbor master at Aloha Tower contacted the Coast Guard Sector Honolulu watchstander relaying information about an ailing crewman aboard the motor vessel Mahi Mahi. A Coast Guard rescue crew aboard a small boat from Station Honolulu rendezvoused with the Mahi Mahi outside of Honolulu Harbor. The ailing crewman needed further medical assistance. A small boat and crew from the Honolulu Fire Department also responded to the call for assistance. The HFD crew transported the 52-year-old man to shore aboard their small boat where an awaiting ambulance further transported him to a local hospital.

The first case Thursday involved the sailing vessel Zipper which had broken free from its mooring and was in danger of colliding with other moored boats. Station Maui launched rescue boats and crews to tow the vessel to safety. The Station Maui's rescue boat crew secured the Zipper to its original mooring.

Later Station Maui responded to a six-person outrigger canoe, with two people on board, in distress off McGregors Point. The Station launched a 25-foot safe boat and crew which towed the two people on the outrigger safely to Lahaina Harbor.

Thursday afternoon, Sector Honolulu personnel kept a close eye on a solo captain sailing from French Polynesia bound for Honokohau Harbor, on the Big Island, after he fell and injured his wrist. The captain reported he needed assistance coordinating shore-side logistics because of his wrist injury. The Sector watchstander placed the captain on a three-hour communication schedule and contacted a friend on shore for the captain.  The captain moored his vessel safely at Honokohau Harbor at about 1 p.m.

The Honolulu Fire Department contacted the Coast Guard Thursday evening at about 6 p.m. with information about a swimmer off of Ala Moana Beach Park who seemed possibly distressed in the water. The surfer who reported the case said he was headed into the beach from a surf session when he first noticed, then lost sight of the swimmer. The Coast Guard responded with an HH-65 Dolphin helicopter, the 87-foot patrol boat Ahi and two 25-foot safe boats from Station Honolulu. After performing search patterns into the night, the Coast Guard didn't find any persons in distress, and suspended active search efforts around 11:30 p.m.

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