Watch: Teen jumps from jet ski to stop runaway boat

A teenager successfully halted an unmanned runaway boat that was circling on Lake Winnipesaukee in the US state of New Hampshire.

A dramatic video captures the moment 17-year-old Brady Procon leaped from a jet ski onto the moving boat and shut off its engine. Procon was spending the Fourth of July weekend at the lake with his family when the incident occurred.

Rich Bono, who recorded the footage on Wednesday (3 July 2024), says he later discovered that the boat’s operator, a sailing instructor, had reached into the water to retrieve a tennis ball used in a lesson when one of the students’ sailboats capsized.

The sailboat’s mast hit the motorboat’s throttle, causing the instructor to fall overboard and the boat to spiral out of control.

Procon, who is set to join the US Navy in the autumn, told WMUR-TV that the experience was both frightening and fun. “I’d do it again,” he says.

Speaking to Western Mass News, Procon reveals how he pulled off the feat. “So, I dove off my jet ski, hopped on his jet ski, and then he manoeuvred his jet ski up to the boat so I could jump in it,” he told the outlet.

“If it hit that dock, it would have ricocheted off and probably hit somebody’s house, dock or people.

While onlookers have hailed the teen a hero, Procon disagrees.

“I wouldn’t say I’m a hero. I think anyone would have done that if they had that opportunity to do it,” he says.