StarBulletin.com

Keen-eye Coast Guard rescuers save missing Jet Skier


By

POSTED: Friday, October 03, 2008

 

U.S. Coast Guard rescuers spotted the dim light from the flashlight of a stranded 51-year-old Jet Skier and plucked him from the waters off Koko Head last night. 

Gerald Lum, who departed on his Jet Ski from Kaiona Beach in Waimanalo at 2 p.m. yesterday, did not show up at 5 p.m. when he was expected to arrive at Hale O Lono Harbor on the southwest coast of Molokai. He was reported missing at about 7 p.m. 

Lum is an experienced Jet Skier and has made the trip before, Coast Guard officials said. He was reportedly wearing a life jacket.

Coast Guard personnel on the Cutter Kiska, a 110-foot patrol boat from Hilo, located and rescued Lum after they noticed the faint light from his flashlight at about 10:20 p.m.

Lum was in good condition, according to Coast Guard officials. 

His Jet Ski is mostly submerged in water, and has been marked with a strobe light to alert mariners of its location.