19-Year-Old Man Spends Night On Buoy After Personal Watercraft Breaks Down Off NJ Coast
SANDY HOOK, N.J. (CBSNewYork/AP) -- A man was rescued by the Coast Guard after spending the night clinging to a buoy because his personal watercraft had broken down.
Dylan Gowan posted "I'm alive" on Facebook Wednesday morning.
According to Coast Guard spokesman Charles Rowe, the 19-year-old had left a personal watercraft rental business in Brooklyn for the Highlands in New Jersey when the craft was swamped Tuesday night.
19-Year-Old Man Spends Night On Buoy After Personal Watercraft Breaks Down Off NJ Coast
Gowan was reported missing around 9:40 p.m. and an extensive search followed overnight, 1010 WINS' Glenn Schuck reported.
The teen said he swam to the buoy that was to the northeast of Sandy Hook peninsula, according to Rowe.
As CBS2's Christine Sloan reported, Gowan was trained in water rescue by the Sea Bright Fire Department. He said when he left New York around 7:30, Tuesday night, it was still light out. He was helping a friend get his wave runner back to New Jersey.
His parents agonized all night after reporting him missing. His father even searched himself.
"I had faith. I never gave up hope," Jamie Gowan said, "I am happy that he's home and safe."
"It was such a group effort and I am so thankful to everybody who helped me bring my son home," his mother added.
Gowan was spotted by a Coast Guard boat crew on Wednesday morning after he had started swimming toward Sandy Hook when dawn broke around 6:30 a.m., Rowe said.
"Light came out, he determined he would try to make a swim for the shore and began swimming and splashing, and that's when our rescue boat crew noticed the splashing, was able to arrive on scene and retrieve him from the water," U.S. Coast Guard spokesman, Petty Officer 3rd Class Frank Iannazzo-Simmons said.
Iannazzo-Simmons told WCBS 880's Levon Putney he hasn't seen this kind of ride done too often "especially on a personal watercraft or Jet Ski, and especially to be leaving and getting underway during the night hours, that's not typically something common practice."
19-Year-Old Man Spends Night On Buoy After Personal Watercraft Breaks Down Off NJ Coast
"This is why we search, even when the odds are against us," said Capt. Thomas Morkan, deputy commander of Sector New York. "You simply never know when fate or luck has intervened to keep someone alive long past the time that logic dictates otherwise. This is a good day for all of us in the search and rescue community."
Gowan was taken to a hospital in Red Bank for treatment for dehydration and hypothermia.
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