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Coast Guard searching for owner of paddleboard found adrift off Maui

COURTESY PHOTO

Responders from the Coast Guard and Maui Police Department are searching for the owner of a blue-and-white paddleboard located off Maui’s Napali Coast today.

The U.S. Coast Guard and Maui Police Department are searching for the owner of a blue-and-white paddleboard found Tuesday off of Maui’s Napali Coast.

The paddleboard, which measures 9 feet 8 inches long, is from Naish Surfboards and has an unfurled leash and ankle strap. Responders are searching the area, with additional resources en route.

Watchstanders at Coast Guard Sector Honolulu received a report about 7:26 a.m. Tuesday from a good Samaritan surfer of the paddleboard adrift near the S Turn north of Blackrock Beach. A crew launched from Coast Guard Station Maui with a 29-foot response boat to retrieve the board. A Coast Guard MH-65 Dolphin helicopter crew returning to Air Station Barbers Point from another mission off Kaneohe Bay was also directed to refuel and divert to Maui for the search.

“We don’t know if the board broke free and drifted or if this was a dawn patrol gone wrong,” said Ensign Seth Gross, command duty officer, Coast Guard Sector Honolulu, in a news release. “We’re working with our partners to saturate the area and locate anyone in distress.”

The Coast Guard reminds waterway users to label or register all gear, watercraft, and vessels to assist responders in identifying owners, making contact and potentially alleviating long searches.

Anyone with information about the owner of the board or how it came to be offshore is asked to contact the Coast Guard at 842-2600.

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