19-year-old jet-skier spends night on buoy after watercraft breaks down

His parents agonized all night after reporting him missing.

He did not have his cell phone with him, and Rowe says Gowan started swimming toward Sandy Hook after dawn.

Gowan was reported missing by relatives around 11 p.m. and an extensive search followed. He shed his sweatpants, jacket – and the WaveRunner – hoping to swim toward Sandy Hook, N.J.

Gowan said he was “very scared”, but confident that enough people were looking for him that he wouldn’t die in the water.

“Light came out, he determined he would try to make a swim for the shore and began swimming and splashing, and that’s when our rescue boat crew noticed the splashing, was able to arrive on scene and retrieve him from the water”, U.S. Coast Guard spokesman, Petty Officer 3rd Class Frank Iannazzo-Simmons said. “This is a good day for all of us in the search and rescue community”.

Rowe would not release the identity of the man. According to a report from WABC-TV, the man is Dylan Gowan of Highlands.

“When I saw them coming toward me, I started screaming with joy and I was just ecstatic”, he said.

Gowan said the Coast Guard crew he managed to flag down was heading back into the station to get gas before he caught them. Later he was reunited with his family.

In an initial interview with authorities, the man said that at some point during his trip, his watercraft became filled with water and stopped working, according to Rowe, who emphasized the man had suffered from dehydration and hypothermia while stuck out at sea.

Hospital officials say he will be held overnight Wednesday so they can monitor his electrolytes and vital signs.

“I just jumped in the ambulance and I jumped on him and I told him I loved him”, Kelly Gowan said.