Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy, a self-proclaimed boating novice, got into a hairy situation off Nantucket.
His boat unexpectedly lost power while taking his mom out on the water, leaving him adrift. Portnoy tried to navigate the situation to avoid crashing, even firing a flare to signal distress, but with little to no luck.
Thankfully, a stranger in a small boat spotted him and offered assistance. The nameless woman used a radio to reach the Coast Guard, who arrived to whisk them to safety.
Portnoy shared on his X account what transpired:
He also did a spot with NBC Boston on Tuesday.
“I’m a relatively new boater,” Portnoy said. “I spent my summers hitting dingers. I wasn’t part of a yacht club. So, I’m a new boat guy. This was my third time out on the boat, and a lot happened. Whether I untethered the boat before trying to turn it on, or it broke free, only God knows, but what I do know is I was no longer tethered to my buoy. And my boat was dead — totally dead.
“I knew I was dead meat right then. The current was strong. It was probably 20 mph wind on Nantucket. And I had no radio. I had no engine. I had no nothing. And I was just floating off to sea, and I knew I was screwed. I knew I was in trouble right then.
“I don’t want to say I stayed calm. The ocean doesn’t care how much money you got. It’ll drown you quick, it’ll humble you quick. I was very nervous. I didn’t know what was gonna happen.”
He did do a first, however.
“I was drifting, drifting, drifting,” he explained. “I did something that a lot of the local people are saying has never been done, which is I actually shot a flare gun while in the harbor. Nobody has ever, I think, shot the flare distress symbol while still actually in the harbor. I did it. I don’t know if I’ll be criticized or made fun of for it; I did it.”
Adrift and frustrated, Portnoy and his mom floated further out to sea. By this point, Portnoy, feeling sunburnt and exasperated, likened himself to Tom Hanks in Castaway.
A young woman in a rowboat recognized Portnoy. She resorted to the radio because neither of them had their phones. Portnoy said that the harbor master line was jammed, but she was able to contact the United States Coast Guard, who wound up rescuing the stranded pair.
“It’s one of those stories you hear, a hero from the night,” he said. “I don’t know her name. She also had a passenger who couldn’t have been more than six years old but looked like she was pretty familiar with the ocean. Neither of them was as nervous as I was.”
Portnoy shared a message for the young woman, filled with humor and sincerity.
“Thank you, thank you,” said Portnoy. “I owe her my life. Without her, I could still be halfway to Saint Barts.”
About Sam Neumann
Since the beginning of 2023, Sam has been a staff writer for Awful Announcing and The Comeback. A 2021 graduate of Temple University, Sam is a Charlotte native, who currently calls Greenville, South Carolina his home. He also has a love/hate relationship with the New York Mets and Jets.