Trio survives harrowing ordeal off coast of Kauai
Brad Warren of California, left, recuperated in Wilcox Memorial Hospital in Lihue after his leg was broken Sunday when a boat in which he was a passenger was overturned by a large wave.
Zack Romanak, the boat’s owner, was captaining the 19-foot vessel when it capsized, above. Romanak visited Warren in his hospital room Monday.
LIHUE » A man with a broken leg, a 10-year-old boy and a boat owner were able to swim to safety after a wave capsized their 19-foot vessel off the west coast of Kauai.
Boat owner Zack Romanak of Port Allen said he wanted to stay close to the capsized boat Sunday night until dawn, but the pain experienced by his guest made them decide to swim, The Garden Island reported.
Romanak, his son Noah and Brad Warren, a California man they met Sunday, fished near Niihau and were headed toward Kikiaola Small Boat Harbor at about 8 p.m. when the large wave struck the boat’s stern.
The boat twisted sideways. All three were thrown into the water, and Warren was hit the hardest. The impact broke his prosthetic hip and femur in three places. He said it was the worst pain of his life.
"And I’ve had kidney stones," Warren said Monday at Wilcox Memorial Hospital as he awaited surgery, hoarse from screaming. "I’ve had three separate kidney stones, and this is absolutely worse than a kidney stone."
He joked that his screams likely could have been heard in Tahiti.
The Romanaks were not injured. Zack Romanak retrieved two life vests in the dark and put them on Warren and his son. They swam to the boat and climbed onto the portion above water.
Waves continued to crash onto the boat. Warren kept getting tossed into the water. He felt like a bowling ball, he said.
"It got to a point to where I couldn’t even climb up anymore," he said.
After four hours of excruciating pain, he was exhausted and thought his life might end.
Noah told the men to listen, and they heard "Don’t Stop Believin’," sung by the band Journey, from a party at a boathouse on shore. They decided to swim.
Warren held onto Noah, Noah held onto his father and the three began swimming. Thoughts of a shark attack, or large waves and currents that could carry them from shore, crossed their minds.
Romanak estimated it would take them at least two hours to reach land.
"We went for it, and within a half an hour we were on the shore," Romanak said.
Romanak ran for help, borrowed a cellphone and called 911. Kauai firefighters met the three shortly after midnight at Kekaha Harbor.
Romanak said he should have known better than to try to make it into the harbor in high-surf conditions. But Warren called him a hero.
"He saved my life," he said.
