Life Jacket Lives Up To Name

After 15 hours at sea, dry land never looked so good to Patrick Hannon.

The Massachusetts man was

On Saturday, an afternoon of fun turned into a night-long fight for survival for Hannon, after he was separated from his brother and cousins.

Hannon says he took a hard jump on his jet ski, then wiped out. Before he could get back on, the machine was swept away.

"I tried, but I couldn't quite make it. With the waves that were coming up, it was pretty choppy," he says.

Also gone in the wipeout: Hannon's glasses, making it hard for him to see where he was going.

When there was still no sign of the 20-year-old at nightfall, his family began to worry.

"We started looking for him, and found the jet ski and not him," says Hannon's cousin, Ian Carroll.

Hannon says he was optimistic, despite being cold, wet, adrift, and in the dark, when he spotted the rescue crews searching for him.

"I saw the helicopters out there from a very early point," he says, "and I knew that they'd make sure that they'd be taking me home."

Fifteen hours later, Coast Guard rescuers found Hannon four-and-a-half miles from the coast, waving his arms, sitting on his life jacket.

"Not only did it keep him afloat, he was smart enough to utilize the life jacket as an aid to keep him buoyant and become more visual," praised Pablo Lagarde of the U.S. Coast Guard.

It was difficult for Hannon, Moon says.

But it's something he can laugh at now.

"I think I'll probably stick to the pool from now on," Hannon concedes.