News 12 Gowan’s family reported him missing after he didn’t return home.
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The man decided to abandon the watercraft, Rowe said, and swim to a nearby buoy located about a mile and a half off the northeast tip of Sandy Hook in the Raritan Bay. But the current was moving out, so he instead swam to a tower in the water and climbed to the top. He said he could see search boats looking for him, but he had no way to reach to them.
“I don’t know what it was but I saw four or five shooting stars that night and I prayed and wished on every single one and I just hoped someone would find me”, Gowan said.
Dylan Gowan, 19, says he spent the night clinging to a light tower in the ocean after his JetSki broke down.
When the first light appeared at dawn, he got off the buoy and swam for 25 to 30 minutes before he was able to flag down a Coast Guard boat. “My heart breaks for them, and I’m happy my son came home today”. Gowan was taken to a local hospital where he remained as of Wednesday night. His family got the word about his rescue a short time later – just before 7 a.m. “I ran out of the police vehicle and ran into the ambulance, and I just hugged him”, his mother said.
Gowan said he grew up on the water so never thought he’d have any problems with it. But, he said, his experience is proof it “can happen to anyone”.
The Coast Guard told News 12 New Jersey that the teen was found hanging on to a buoy.
“This is why we search, even when the odds are against us”, Coast Guard Capt. Thomas Morkan said in a news release.
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While survival in the water is based on many factors, it’s unlikely for anyone to survive in the water more than 24 hours, Rowe said.
