The crew of the Malibu Princess rescued a man from the frigid waters north of Skookumchuck Narrows last weekend.
"He was so tired. We threw him a life preserver but he was too weak to grab it," said Maggie Clayton, sales and marketing manager for Malibu Yacht Charters.
Clayton said the man, who did not give his name to rescuers, had fallen out of his 14-foot fishing boat, which was circling around him. The motion of the boat was what first alerted passengers on board the Malibu Princess.
"A passenger saw the boat and told the captain, who changed course to help," Clayton said.
She said the man had been in the water for about 40 minutes and did not have his life jacket on.
"He wasn't wearing it but he had it with him. He was sort of sitting on it," she said.
After crew realized the man was too weak to grab a life preserver, they launched the rescue boat and pulled him out of the water.
"It was a very hot day but he had some signs of hypothermia which surprised me," said Clayton.
The man was found near Seal Rock, north of the Skookumchuck Narrows at about 8 p.m. July 24.
The Malibu Princess tour left at about 1 p.m. that afternoon and was just returning to port when they noticed the man.
"He's actually really lucky we were even out there, because we don't go out every day. There are only about 12 days a year we can actually go out that way because we have a large boat and need a high tide," said Clayton.
She said once they got the man on board they helped keep him warm and phoned paramedics, who met them at the dock.
"He was released shortly after so he's okay," said Clayton.
She said boaters often need help on the route the Malibu Princess takes up to Chatterbox Falls and back.
"This isn't the first time this has happened. I think people don't understand the dangers of sea water versus lake water. There are waves to deal with and deadheads. And a lot of times people run out of gas out there," she noted.
She was glad her crew was able to help the tired boater and bring him to safety. His boat was towed back to shore by the rescue boat.
