Tiki boat captain saves capsized kayaker on Allegheny River
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- A tiki boat captain is credited with saving a kayaker who needed help on the river over the weekend.
It was supposed to be a routine Sunday tiki boat outing on Pittsburgh's three rivers when things got very interesting and dangerous for one of Dale McCue's tiki boat skippers and a capsized kayaker.
He noticed something scary in the middle of the captain's safety brief for his passengers.
"He had a one o'clock pick up on the North Shore," David Dale McCue of Cruisin' Tikis Pittsburgh said.
Captain Chris Patton saw a kayaker bobbing in the water in the middle of the Allegheny River.
Captain Patton told his passengers to stand by on shore so he could check out the person in the channel. It didn't take long to figure out what happened.
"When he got there, he realized the kayak was separated from the kayaker; it capsized. The kayaker had on a life jacket that wasn't fitted properly; it was over the top of his head."
And it would turn out, the victim didn't know how to swim.
Battling higher and choppy waters, the captain positioned his vessel to pull the man from the water, saving the man from possibly drowning. This is the third time a tiki boat has made a big save, including a rescue of a young man from the bottom of the river and another save in August 2023.
"I'm very proud of our team of captains," McCue said.
The kayaker turned out to be okay and very thankful. Captain Patton picked up his passengers and off they went on another voyage.
