Editorial: Water rescue

When there’s time to act in an emergency, Bonita Springs’ Jerry Parker and his teenagers don’t have to be told what to do. Parker and his twin 19-year-olds were headed for Captiva Island aboard his 39-foot boat on Memorial Day. As they watched from the deck of their boat, the Parkers saw the wake from another vessel capsize a small Gheenoe (a boat similar to a canoe, but with a motor). Two adults and a child went overboard into New Pass at the north end of Hickory Island.

In short order the Parkers threw a rope to a mother and child, and one of the Parker twins, Sean, jumped into the water to assist the other adult.

While the Parkers do not need to be told what to do, two other parties need a piece of advice.

One is for the family in the Gheenoe, which according to the Coast Guard should not be piloting a boat of that size toward a body of water as potentially dangerous as the Gulf of Mexico.

The other is for the captain of the vessel that dragged the wake: Even though you can cruise at speed, keep watch for other vessels.

The Parkers were generous in saying the bigger boat’s skipper likely did not know what happened, yet noted the bigger craft was “flying.”

In the end, as one news story reported, “By the time the Coast Guard arrived, both families were safe on the Parkers’ boat. Petty Officer Aaron Mertz called the Parkers ‘good Samaritans.’”

“Heroes” would be just as accurate.