GARY T. KUBOTA / GKUBOTA@STARBULLETIN.COM
Canadian windsurfer Grazyna Pstrong was reunited with her husband Max Ohnona at Maalaea Harbor on Maui this morning, after spending the night in the ocean.
Windsurfer, missing overnight, found safe Coast Guard searchers this morning found a Canadian tourist who had been missing since yesterday afternoon after her sailboard broke while windsurfing off of Maui.
By Gary T. Kubota
gkubota@starbulletin.comGrazyna Pstrong, 49, of Vancouver, British Columbia, was in good condition and climbed up the cargo net of the Coast Guard cutter Assateague on her own when she was rescued at about 7:30 a.m.
"I tried to get some help but no one could see me. It was scary. I tried to lie on the board," she said about her overnight ordeal.
Pstrong did not need any medical treatment from the ambulance crew that met her at Maalaea Harbor.
The Assateague found her about 3 nautical miles south of Molokini island, or about 10 miles from where she began windsurfing near Suda Store in Kihei.
Pstrong said the boom on her board broke. When asked if she would windsurf again, she said, "not on this trip."
And the next time, Pstrong said, she will check her equipment thoroughly and carry a waterproof flashlight and whistle.
The Coast Guard searched for her last night but Coast Guard Chief Tony Ochoa said conditions were difficult, with no moonlight.
"It was dark. It was pitch dark," he said
Pstrong had gone windsurfing at about 2:30 p.m. yesterday, Assistant Fire Chief Alan Cordeiro said. At about 4:30 p.m., someone in a south Maui condominium saw the woman having problems in the water and thought she had lost wind, he said.
Cordeiro said the person in the condominium did not call authorities immediately.
He said authorities received a call from Pstrong's husband at 6 p.m. telling them that she had not returned to shore.
Fire rescue officials used a boat and helicopter through midnight but called off the search until this morning. The Coast Guard used vessels and a helicopter through the night and morning to search for the woman.
Cordeiro said the seas in Maalaea Bay and the channel between Maui and Kahoolawe did not have big waves and were only "slightly choppy."
