Doctors try to save woman hit by boat

A Hawaii island woman was in critical condition Sunday after being hit by a boat’s propellers during a canoe race off Maui over the weekend.

Family identified the woman as Faith Kalei-Imaizumi of Kurtistown.

Maui firefighters said the woman, who is in her 60s, was injured just before 9 a.m. Saturday during the 10th annual Pailolo Challenge outrigger canoe race from Maui to Molokai. She was brought ashore at D.T. Fleming Beach Park on Maui’s west shore after reportedly being caught in the propellers of a boat, firefighters said.

Lifeguards began treating Kalei-Imaizumi on the beach and paramedics took her to Napili Park, where a helicopter picked her up and took her to Maui Memorial Medical Center with critical injuries, firefighters said.

According to a GoFundMe page set up for Kalei-Imaizumi, which was on track to pass $20,000 in donations Sunday night, she was struck in the thigh and groin by the propellers of her escort boat and had extensive blood loss.

She was transferred to the Queen’s Medical Center, where she underwent multiple surgeries and doctors were trying to save her leg and life, according to a post attributed to her daughter, Hope Kalei.

Arianna Gerry, the race director and club manager of Hawaiian Canoe Club, which organizes the race, said organizers were praying for Kalei-Imaizumi and her family. She declined further comment.

Paul Lu‘uwai, the head children’s coach for Hawaiian Canoe Club, said he was at D.T. Fleming Beach Park assisting other paddlers at the start of the race when he saw rescuers bring Kalei-Imaizumi in on a sled attached to a personal watercraft. He helped carry Kalei-Imaizumi to shore and said she didn’t have a pulse and was extremely pale.

“It was just really traumatizing,” he said. “It was really bad to see someone like that. I’m really still shook up about it.”

He expressed his sympathy for the family and hoped for her recovery.

The Pailolo Challenge, named after the channel, is a 26-mile race from D.T. Fleming Beach Park to Kaunakakai Pier on Molokai.

Lu‘uwai said the race teams consist of 12-person crews with a six-person crew rotation every 20 minutes; they race between three and five hours.

He said someone told him Kalei-Imaizumi was on an escort boat and went into the water to retrieve a hat when she was struck by the boat, which was reversing as the captain tried to avoid another boat.

“It was really tragic,” he said.