Two men rescued near Marina State Beach

A water rescue on the Central Coast today, has one man glad to be alive.

“Yea I feel better that I made it to shore and not dead,” says David Lawson. Those were some of Lawson’s first thoughts after a normal day of fishing, took a turn for the worst. This happened between Moss Landing and Marina State Beach Monday morning. Lawson says he was just out fishing for Rockfish with his buddy, when his boat became disabled because of possible engine failure.

Lawson says, “We started drifting towards the beach… put out flares and stuff and they finally showed up.”

And after being stuck nearly 150 yards offshore for about an hour… it’s those flares that got them noticed.

Coast Guard, Chief Phillip Dawalt says, “They did have ways of visually showing they were in distress, which is how we got notified. So that was, that was a good way to make sure they had their emergency equipment on board.”

Along with the coastguard, the Marina Fire Dept. and an AMR unit were at the scene.

By the time these first responders made it to the beach… the waves had already taken over. “The water jumped in with us, the waves took us out and washed us up on shore. I’m soaked from top to the bottom,” says Lawson.

David and his buddy were able to keep the boat from tipping. Officials with Marina Fire Dept. say this situation could have ended much worse. “But definitely could have capsized in that process. But they were fortunate to make it out with minimal injuries at best,” says Anthony Prado.

Lawson says the waves tossed him around the boat… leaving him cold and sore. “Yeah uhh, against the seat. I got cracked ribs and stuff, I gotta go get looked at.”

And the Coast Guard says before you go out on the ocean make sure to have life jackets and a way to call for help… like a flare gun or radio. Also deploying the anchor in this situation, to not get swept into shore.