Teen Stops Runaway Boat On New Hampshire Lake

GILFORD, N.H. (AP) An empty runaway boat speeding in circles on New Hampshires largest lake was brought safely to a stop by a teenager who jumped aboard from a personal watercraft.

Rich Bono, who captured the events on video, said he was on the dock Wednesday in Lake Winnipesaukees Smith Cove when he heard some commotion in what is usually a quiet, no-wake zone.

I can hear an engine revving, and I looked down the end of the dock toward the noise and saw a boat circling, circling, circling, and no one was in it, he said. Obviously, thats not good.

Bono later learned that the boats operator, a sailing instructor, had reached into the water to pick up a tennis ball used for teaching when one of the students sailboats tipped over. The sailboats mast hit the motor boats throttle, sending the instructor overboard and the boat into a spiral.

Brady Procon, 17, hopped on the back of his neighbors personal watercraft. They pulled alongside the runaway boat, and Procon jumped onto it and cut the engine.

Brady was a hero, Bono said in an interview Monday.

Though there were multiple children in sailboats and other vessels docked nearby, no one was injured, nor was any property damaged, Bono said.

That boat was under power, throttled up, he said. Motors on boats are like meat grinders, theyre not very forgiving if someone gets hit.

Procon, who is joining the U.S. Navy in the fall, told WMUR-TV the experience was both scary and fun.

Id do it again, he said.