A man spent two days stranded on a raft in the Long Island Sound before being rescued Tuesday by a passing boater — an off-duty auxiliary Coast Guard commander, authorities said.
“I was in the right place at the right time,’’ said the Coast Guard auxiliary commander, Robert Ewing.
Ewing said he and his wife, Jeanne Koenig, were sailing from Port Jefferson, LI, to the coast of Maine when they spotted the desperate boater around 9:49 a.m., 7 nautical miles off the shore of Long Island.
The couple first thought it was just a buoy, Ewing said.
But “it looked peculiar so I picked up a pair of binoculars to take a look,’’ Ewing said.
“It was a blowup rubber inflatable, the kind you buy for the beach. We were 7 nautical miles off the shore of Long Island, and there it was with a man on board.
“The man started waving a orange wind breaker,’’ he said.
Ewing said he quickly contacted the Coast Guard as he and his wife rushed to help the man. They reached him and struggled to secure his raft to their tug boat amidst 25 mph wind gusts.
“Everything was rocking. [But] between the two of us, we were able to hoist the man on board,’’ Ewing said. “We eventually learned that he had been in the raft for two days.”
“His medical condition was hard to tell. He was in and out for a while becoming more coherent as time went on,” Ewing said. “We treated him for shock and hypothermia just in case.”
They then set out for New Haven to meet up with the Coast Guard.
Coast Guard officials said the man told them that he and a pal had set sail Sunday from Milford, Ct., but became stranded by the strong winds and tides.
According to Coast Guard Lt. Matthew Richards, the rescued man told them that the second man on his raft jumped overboard to swim to shore Monday afternoon.
The man swam to Charles Island near Milford and then was able to walk to the mainland near Silver Sands State Park during low tide, where he was found by the Coast Guard.
Both men were treated at area hospitals for dehydration and hypothermia.
Lt. Richards urged sailors to take precaution before going out, especially during windy conditions. Neither of the two were equipped with life jackets or emergency supplies.
“We’re seeing inexperienced people running into trouble,” Richards said. “The two most important things are to know your craft and understand your capabilities as a mariner.”