Vessel aids sailboat off Big Island

A good Samaritan vessel came to the aid of a Big Island-bound sailboat on Saturday.

The Coast Guard reported the captain of the 43-foot sailboat Kehaulani issued a distress call Friday 900 miles southeast of Hilo, saying its sails were frayed and fuel had began to run low.

The captain estimated the vessel would likely run out of fuel 475 miles from the Big Island. Aboard were the 66-year-old captain and a 63-year-old woman.

The captain of the 134-foot steel brigantine Robert C. Seamans responded to a SafetyNET message that was issued.

The vessels rendezvoused Saturday, and the Seamans’ crew provided 40 gallons of diesel fuel and repaired the sails.

Coming up

Gen. Craig R. McKinley, chief of the National Guard Bureau, and state and county officials will open the Hawaii National Guard’s Youth Challenge Academy at the former Kulani Correctional Facility on the Big Island at 11:30 a.m. Thursday. It will be the second academy in the state that offers quasi-military residential education programs to youth.