CRAIG T. KOJIMA / CKOJIMA@STARBULLETIN.COM The 32-foot sailboat Misty Blue ran aground Tuesday on the beach about 300 yards east of the Ala Wai Yacht Harbor. The Honolulu Fire Department alerted the Coast Guard to the problem about 11 p.m. Tuesday. The vessel, shown here yesterday, is owned by Christopher Payne.

State will pay to remove pleasure yacht

The owner has no insurance, making reimbursement hard

For the second time this week, the state Division of Boating and Ocean Recreation will pay to remove a grounded boat in Honolulu.

The 32-foot sailboat Misty Blue ran aground on the beach about 300 yards Diamond Head of the Ala Wai Boat Harbor Tuesday night, Coast Guard officials said yesterday.

Owner Christopher Payne, 38, originally told the Coast Guard he would refloat the recreational boat himself yesterday morning. But a "big hole in the keel" made that impossible, said state Department of Land and Natural Resources spokeswoman Deborah Ward.

Payne, who said he had no insurance on the boat or money to pay for its removal, gave the DLNR's boating division permission to have a contractor remove it. That will be done today by Cates International, at an estimated cost of $25,000 to $45,000, Ward said.

Meanwhile, contractor Pacific Environmental Corp. made progress yesterday clearing away pieces of the Two Star, a 54-foot longline fishing boat that ran aground early Saturday outside the Kewalo Basin channel, Ward said. The company expects to finish that $95,000 job by tomorrow, she said.

The Two Star, which is owned by Leilani Fishing Corp., ran aground as it tried to return to its mooring in Kewalo Basin.

The Misty Blue ran aground as owner Payne tried to leave the Ala Wai Boat Harbor Tuesday night.

The state will later seek reimbursement from the boat owners for the cost of removal, but recouping salvage costs from a boat owner who claims he has no money is difficult, said Roy Yanagihara, acting Oahu district manager for the Division of Boating and Ocean Recreation.

"We will pursue it," Yanagihara said, but the "chances of recovery in most cases are very small."

The Coast Guard is investigating the cause of the Two Star's grounding, because it created a potential pollution hazard until its fuel was removed by emergency contract on Saturday.

The Coast Guard will not investigate the grounding of the Misty Blue, because it did not threaten the public safety, said Coast Guard Petty Officer Brooksann Anderson.