When a boat ran away, a New Hampshire teen saved the day. 

It’s usually quiet at Smith Cove on Lake Winnipesaukee. Kids sail boats on the calm waters. But when Rich Bono stepped outside last Wednesday morning, something was wrong. He heard an engine revving.

“I looked . . . toward the noise and saw a boat circling, circling, circling, and no one was in it,” he says. “Obviously, that’s not good.”

During a sailing lesson, a sailboat tipped over. The mast smacked into the instructor’s motorboat. It knocked the instructor overboard. The falling mast also managed to hit the motorboat’s throttle. The vessel went spinning out into the cove—with nobody at the helm!

At that moment, the runaway boat wasn’t the only thing at risk. Other boats were docked nearby. Children were sailing in the water.

“That boat was under power, throttled up,” says Mr. Bono. “Motors on boats are . . . not very forgiving if someone gets hit.”

That’s when 17-year-old Brady Procon saw the danger. He hopped onto the back of his neighbor’s jet ski. They took off after the out-of-control motorboat. Like an action movie star, Brady leapt from one watercraft to the other. He cut the motorboat’s engine.

“Brady was a hero,” says Mr. Bono. He captured the whole event on video.

What Brady did was dangerous. But he says it was necessary. “If it hit that dock, it would have ricocheted off and probably hit someone’s house, dock, or people,” he told the New York Post. In the end, nobody was injured. The runaway boat didn’t even damage any property.

Brady’s quick thinking and sailing skills saved the day. He wants to keep using those skills to help others. In the fall, Brady plans to join the U.S. Navy. (He’ll have a great story to tell his fellow recruits!)

Without God, we’re like boats without a captain. We can’t rescue ourselves. But He jumps aboard to save us.

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God. — Ephesians 2:8