Crews suspend
search for fishermanRoy Takatsuki's friends plan
to keep looking for him
Coast Guard officials suspended the search for missing Kauai fisherman Roy Takatsuki at 5:30 p.m. yesterday after three days and three nights of looking for him by air and by sea.
However, Takatsuki's friends in the fishing community have said they will continue the search on their own, though they were hoping to obtain a safe vessel to search with.
"I had friends who said they wanted to rent the Coast Guard cutter, but it's not rentable," said Takatsuki's girlfriend, Beverley Pang. "When I saw them yesterday (Sunday), they said they'd be continuing on their own."
With a sigh, she added, "I've been sitting at the Haleiwa Pier for the last two days. ... I just got back."
The Kauai man's boat was found Saturday, the engine idling, off the north coast of Kauai. Takatsuki, 57, failed to return after a third day of the North Shore Hanapa'a Jackpot Fishing Tournament at Haleiwa Boat Harbor.
Another fisherman, Richard Shiroma, was reported missing after his boat washed ashore June 19, the engine running and a marlin tied to it, at Turtle Bay Resort in Kahuku.
The Coast Guard recommends fishing in pairs.
"Experience does not guarantee you won't get into an accident," Coast Guard spokeswoman Petty Officer Brooksann Anderson said.
If a fisherman or boater insists on going it alone, the Coast Guard recommends tethering himself to his vessel and wearing a small, personal emergency position-indicating radio beacon.
Norman Toki, 63, fishes alone on his 42-foot boat because he has a tough time finding experienced fishing partners and does not like to train beginners.
"I'll still fish by myself," he said, "but I'll be thinking of Roy (Takatsuki) and Richard Shiroma."
Takatsuki had problems getting Kauai fishermen to journey to Oahu on his 18-footer for the tourney, Toki said.
Toki suspects Takatsuki may have been trying to fix his outrigger when he went overboard because he had problems with it days before the tournament.
"He would have no (other) reason to lean outside the boat," he said.
But Dunn McManus, a 75-year-old who docks his boat at Haleiwa Boat Harbor, said boaters' common practice to lean over the back of the boat to relieve themselves may have been the cause. He noted that the two missing fishermen had boats with very low sterns.
Sus Kunehiro, 75, says there are a lot of fishermen who go bottom-fishing alone.
"I'm not trolling for big fish," he said. With bottom-fishing "you just go out so far, kill your engine and just dunk."
Star-Bulletin reporter Rod Antone contributed to this report.