JUPITER, Fla. (WSVN) – A South Florida teen is being called a hero after rescuing a boater in distress off the coast of the Jupiter Inlet, Friday afternoon, and it was all caught on drone video.
The man’s boat capsized, and he was tossed into some very rough water near a jetty.
A drone recorded all the action, as the small boat was capsized by waves and pulled under the water.
Thirteen-year-old Sam Ruskin was surfing with his cousin nearby at the time.
“At first, we just saw all the boxes from the boat in the middle of the sea,” said Ruskin, “and we were kind of like, ‘What’s going on?'”
Ruskin sprang into action.
“There was this guy, and he was coming around the Inlet,” he said, “and I paddled to the end of the Inlet where the current is, and I gave him my surfboard.”
Ruskin said it all happened fast.
“It’s really strong,” said Ruskin. “I was swimming next to him, and I was really struggling to get out of that area. You can get sucked into the jetty.”
Both Ruskin and the boater made it to the beach safely.
“He said, ‘Thank you,’ and he got off the surf board, and I just went back to surfing,” said Ruskin. “I think he was pretty much in shock ’cause he just lost his boat and all that stuff.”
Sam’s father, Ryan Ruskin, said he didn’t know the extent his son went to in order to save the boater until he saw the drone video on Facebook.
“It just speaks about his character,” said Ryan. “He didn’t even blink an eye and just went right over there, jumped off his board, handed it to a grown man, saved his life, came back and said, ‘Hey, what’s for dinner, Dad?'”
Ruskin said although it can be dangerous off the Jupiter Inlet, he would do it again.
“Especially here you don’t want to go where this guy was ’cause you’ll get sucked into the jetty, and it’s pretty scary in there because it’s super fast going into the jetty,” said Ruskin.
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