“And they say plastic straws are killing the ocean…”
For the past two weeks, grave fears were held for one of the world’s best waves after a ninety-four-foot super yacht ran aground at Honolua Bay, the one-time site of the WSL’s women’s tour finale.
Videos on Instagram showed the four-bedroom, five-bath Nakoa high and dry on the rocks in front of where surfers paddle out to the world-famous righthand point.
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Honolua’s place in surf lore runs deep with four-time world champ Mark Richards describing the joint as “the ultimate wave; the best wave in the world.”
Community feels ran hot as news spread through the island.
“Thanks elites…Your dream life fucks up our only life. Send dis guy back. With massive fines that go back to restoring land and water in Hawai’i. Too many fuck ups over here. We cannot overlook anymore. Barred. No can ever return.”
“Haoles should be banned from water,” said another local. “Every time they around it something goes wrong. They steal it, pollute it, poison it and even drown in it!”
Earlier today, and after a rigging crew spent all day Saturday preparing the Nokoa to be pulled off the reef and aided by favourable weather conditions, the stricken yacht was dragged to open waters.
“I’m beyond words,” said Dan Chang, Chair of the Department of Land and Natural Resources. “We all thought today was it. It was either going to happen or not. I’m extremely pleased.”
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As the Nakoa was dragged out to sea a pod of humpback whales began following the Nakoa and the two salvage boats as they headed west.
“If you’re Hawaiian you think about hō‘ailona, or sign. There was no wind until we saw the whales and it suddenly picked up. We all had chicken skin,” Chang said.
Update: Even after a salvage job reported to have cost half-a-million bucks the Nakoa now appears to be sinking just offshore.
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This reminded me of that gigantic fuck up in italy. People died, captain got 16 years for manslaughter.
Reckon this fuckwit will get a slap in the hand and be let off off quite easily.
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Everything about this is positively depressive except the bit about a rich fool getting hosed
Two big stories ignored.
One, that boat is not 90’
Two, honolua during prime season goes flat long enough to drag the boat out to sea. Had this happened in January?
Worst February in Hawaii ever for waves hands down
Let’s hope they got as much fuel and toxins off it before they pulled it off. No way they thought they were likely to get that to dry dock before it went down.
they were reporting publicly that fuel was drained etc in anticipation of it breaking up — guessing those more plugged into the backchannels on this might have heard differently. And obviously impossible to have completely sanitized it.
kudos to the crews that got it out of there. Hope it provides refuge to the fish below for centuries to come. Nothing left to say re the ‘captain’ who let it float there to begin with. Poor bay will never be the same. Everyone should just strike it from their surf bucket lists, not worth it and the parking sucks.
Its between a rock and hard place now.
Love the music choice
This guy has been doing decent coverage of the situation
I’m no boating guy but how is it more economical to let an uninsured 3 to 7 million yacht sink in deep water than to try and keep it afloat, repair it and sell it in order to recoup salvage costs?
After two weeks on the rocks that hull was fucked. Shafts bent, propellers destroyed, main engine and generators destroyed by salt water. I could go on. It would never be seaworthy again.
Would have cost way more to fix than sink. Water damage with that kind of hole would be extensive.
gotcha. the way that tug towed it at speed they all knew what was going down.
“His commercial insurance was/is lapsed. “
So how was allowed run a charter business?
I’m thinking somebody’s in government departments might need answers a few questions and start looking for another job , get a haircut and a really good Lawyer, his not going go down alone
There’s a number of insurance policies associated with running commercial charter vessels.
Hull & Machinery Insurance.
International Oil Pollution Insurance
International Sewage Pollution Insurance.
Professional Indemnity Insurance etc.
All provided by reputable underwriting companies but come under the jurisdiction of the Flag State. In this case, if the vessel is Hawaii registered, the Flag State authorities regularly audit the company to ensure all policies are valid and in order for commercial charter operations to continue.
It could be that old mate was operating his vessel privately and outside the commercial guideline requirements….
Anyway, the vessel has sunk in 800 feet of water and I highly doubt they will make another salvage attempt, which clearly points to the fact that the Insurance underwriters had no intention of paying out on any of the “valid Policies.
The salvage team and all involved knew the thing would begin taking on water immediately, so the tactic would have been to load on the RPM’s and get it into deeper water ASAP.
Old Jimmy Jones is in pretty deep water himself….dollar wise..
Thank you for the info
One rich entitled fuckwit is all it takes.
Sue his arse out of the state
I heard his last yacht was called ‘Unsinkable 2’
start the rice!
from lanai they’re on the lahiainanula trawler/
xinealtility…priceless!
…BREAKING NEWS…BREAKING NEWS…BREAKING NEWS… https://uploads.disquscdn.c… (watch this space)
clear my rocking chair now~
If ya can’t tie a proper knot just tie a lot.
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Captain should go down with the boat.
He might’ve been going down below deck hence it sitting on the rocks.
popeye eats spinnach…superman eats plutonium and barbies~and olive!
You can’t hide from what you said.
It’s going to follow you for the rest of your life
We’re ALL swimming in the Samwaters…
A badge of Shame.
Funny in that many of the heaviest locals there are haole…
🎯 That’s Maui-afornia for you
$3 for the whole seawater sampling analyses results…or fer free? live…