(NewsNation) — A teenager took a leap of faith by jumping from a personal watercraft to stop a runaway boat on Lake Winnipesaukee in New Hampshire after the boat’s captain was knocked overboard.
After observing the vacant boat springing uncontrollably, 17-year-old Brady Procon sprung into action.
Procon explained that he was sitting on his back porch with his family when they noticed a boat tearing up the lake in a no-wake zone. Shortly after, Procon and his father realized that no one was on the boat.
Nearby, a sailing lesson was being conducted with kids in the open water. It was then that Procon and his father jumped into action.
Procon’s dad jumped on his boat and the 17-year-old followed by jumping onto his jet ski. While his dad worked to get the kids out of the way, Procon drove toward the runaway boat. It’s there that Procon’s neighbor joined in on the action, allowing Procon to transfer from his own jetski to his neighbor’s so that they could get close enough to the boat to stop it as a team.
The neighbor started mirroring the boat’s circular motion in the water, doing donuts to try and get closer to the boat. Once the two men were able to get close enough, Procon launched himself from his neighbor’s jet ski onto the rouge boat.
The 17-year-old was able to take control of the vessel and stop it from spinning, potentially stopping it from running into any homes, people or other vessels.
“If I missed the boat, I could have gotten seriously hurt,” Procon said. “But it all worked out.”
He told NewsNation’s Brooke Shafer on “Morning in America” Tuesday that he didn’t think about the dangers the rescue posed until afterward.
“I feel like if I focused on if I missed the boat, then I probably would have missed it,” he said.