It was a close call for a mother and son Tuesday in Salisbury, Massachusetts, who became stranded off the coast.
The pair went out paddleboarding at Salisbury Beach when they quickly found themselves out at sea.
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Erin Farrell-Talbot and her 11-year-old son, Owen, thought it would be an ordinary joy ride, like they've done numerous times before. Except there was something off about the weather that day.
"We knew it was really windy, little bit more windy than usual," said Farrell-Talbot. "But we said that we would only go out for 10 minutes and then we'll come back."
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Those 10 minutes ended up being an hour. The wind had changed direction and pushed them about a half mile away from shore, she noted.
"We're not getting closer; we keep getting out. So I said, 'I think we're in trouble,'" recalled Farrell-Talbot.
The 50-year-old mother tried not to panic and instead jumped in the water and began pushing the paddleboard, while her son blew on a whistle and waved down a boat.
"We had a fishing boat coming in, I was on the phone with the coast guard, and then all of the sudden, I see, out of the corner of my eye, a jet ski coming out of nowhere with two Salisbury lifeguards on it," she said.
It was the Salisbury Beach lifeguards' 36th rescue of the summer. The mom and son were relieved.
"When we get back to shore, he just gave me a hug and said, 'I love you so much mom, thank you so much!'" she recalled.
It wasn't their first rodeo. Farrell-Talbot said they always go out prepared.
"There were three things: we had the whistle; we had the pouch with the phone; and then we had the life jackets," she said.
But it was the first time they underestimated the unpredictability of Mother Nature.
"Ten minutes turned into an hour, turned into a rescue mission, so you really got to be careful and pay attention to the weather," Farrell-Talbot said.
