A large wave knocked a man off his rented personal watercraft and he drifted at sea overnight before being spotted by Coast Guard searchers two miles west of Maui.
Patrick Hannon, 21, of Cambridge, Mass., was a little dehydrated and shaken up, but suffered no major injuries, authorities said.
“I was a little worried in the first hour or so just because I had no idea what to make of the situation,” Hannon said. “I saw the helicopters out there from a very early point so I knew that they’d make sure that they’d be taking me home.”
Hannon was out with two cousins and his brother when he lost his way Saturday. He told KGMB-TV that he was thrown off the watercraft by a large wave and that it drifted away before he could swim to it.
Coast Guard searchers in a C-130 plane spotted Hannon on Sunday morning, 15 hours after he got lost.
“He was sitting on top of his life jacket which was actually a good move on his part,” said Pablo Lagarde of the Coast Guard. “If he was submerged with his life jacket, all we could see was his head.”
