A fast-thinking tugboat crew and an EPIRB are credited for saving the life of a boater sinking off the coast of the  Dominican Republic.

John McCoy said he was prepared with the right equipment when his boat started sinking, and a tug boat crew happened to be in the right place at the right time to rescue him.

“It’s scary to sit there and think whether you are going to make it to land or not,” McCoy said.

McCoy was having engine problems and when he went below he found over 2 feet of water inside the cabin of his 32 ft cruiser. He knew he had to act quickly because the Boat was sinking.

“I got on the radio. I couldn’t get anybody to respond to me, so I had to get off the boat, the boat was about to go down,” McCoy said.

McCoy said he got into his 8-foot dingy and took his rescue gear with him, including an EPIRB. McCoy said without the EPIRB he’d probably be dead.

After five hours, he got a renewed sense of hope as the sun came up of Thanksgiving morning. The crew of the tugboat Coral Coast, which had heard his distress calls, was making progress in finding him.

Tugboat Capt. James Morrissey and his crew were persistent about finding the man they heard over the radio all night long.

“It’s like finding a needle in a haystack, so we really didn’t know how to go about finding him,” Morrissey said.
He said McCoy did all the right steps so that he could be found.

“He was very smart when his boat went down,” Morrissey said. “He grabbed all the equipment he needed to grab.”

The crew and McCoy enjoyed Thanksgiving dinner aboard the Coral Coast. They landed in Blount Island in Jacksonville on Tuesday.

“I’m very blessed that they turned around, and especially to turn around a whole barge to come after me,” McCoy said. “The captain said he was not going to leave me out there, that they were coming after me no matter what.”

Source: www.news4jax.com