More On Flyin’ Hawaiian Rescue

As reported Saturday, the five-person crew of the 65-ft catamaran Flyin’ Hawaiian was airlifted to safety Saturday morning, after the homebuilt vessel began taking on water roughly 120 miles west of Monterey.

In a comment posted online after the Coast Guard’s official release about the incident, the big cat’s first mate, Valery Tozer, wrote: "The wood beams it was built from were faulty; they started to crack. We tried everything we could to hold her together. We tied and chained both sides together, but it didn’t help." Tozer’s wife, whose name was not given, served as navigator on the intended voyage to Hawaii. She is seven months pregnant, but Tozer reports that both mother and baby are okay despite the mayday trauma and the ordeal of being winched aboard a Coast Guard rescue helicopter. The couple were apparently intending to start a new life in Hawaii, as was the Flyin’ Hawaiian‘s owner/builder James ‘Hot Rod’ Lane. "We lost everything," wrote Tozer. According to waterfront sources, Lane’s mother and girlfriend were also on board.

Although the unconventional craft was equipped with some safety gear, it evidently did not have an EPIRB, as it was the signal from one of the crew’s personal locater device that initiated the rescue. Without that, the sad end of the Flyin’ Hawaiian‘s bizarre story might never be known. "The CG did a perfect job," wrote Tozer. "Thank you all."