RYE, NH – Incredible video captured the moment a whale off the coast of New Hampshire capsized a boat, sending two men into the ocean. Two nearby teenagers who filmed the incident immediately came to their rescue.
Two men thrown overboard
“We know the risk when we come here, what happened to us this morning is really unusual,” said Greg Paquette, who was thrown overboard.
Paquette and his friend Ryland Kenney were fishing off the coast of Rye, New Hampshire, when a whale suddenly appeared and overturned their boat.
“Luckily it was slow enough that I was able to swim away from it before it completely capsized,” Paquette said.
It took Kenney several panicked moments before he was able to find Paquette in the water. “I didn’t have much time to react,” Kenney said. “So I took a few steps back and did a Superman jump off the boat.”
Colin Yager
Two teenagers, Colin and Wyatt Yager, were fishing nearby when the incident happened. They said they saw the whale breach several times afterward.
Colin held his fishing rod in one hand and a phone in the other. “It’s just unreal. Completely unreal,” he said.
The whale leapt out of the water and crashed over Paquette and Kenney’s boat. Paquette said the whale had a bite of fish and crashed into the back of their boat, sending them flying.
A Coast Guard crew from Station Portsmouth reported that the whale did not appear to be injured. The incident was reported to NOAA.
“This is their home”
Fortunately, the men had only been in the water for a minute when the two boys came to their rescue.
“We are grateful to the good Samaritans for responding so quickly to save these two individuals. Well done Zulu!” the Coast Guard said on X.
The men were able to escape unharmed, but their belongings were spared. Paquette lost his iPhone. The boat was recovered, the Coast Guard said.
“That’s the one thing we have to realize: This is their home. This is their ocean, so we’re in their way,” Kenney said.
The Coast Guard asked boaters to report any whale sightings to a local USCG command center.
Mike Sullivan
