Brave 7-Year-Old Recounts Hour-Long Swim to Shore After Boating Mishap on Florida River

A Jacksonville family is grateful to be alive this Memorial Day weekend, and the dad says it’s all because of his 7-year-old son.

The brave youngster outswam a current that separated him from his father and 4-year-old sister in the St. Johns River near Mandarin Point on Friday.

Steven Poust said he anchored his boat in the water while he fished and his kids swam around.

Chase, 7, said while they were in the water, his sister, Abigail, let go of the boat because of a strong current, so he let go and they were both stuck.

“I felt really scared,” Chase said.

Chase didn’t have a life jacket on, but his sister did. She floated along with the current as their father jumped in the water trying to grab her while Chase tried to swim to shore.

“I told them I loved him because I wasn’t sure what’s going to happen,” Poust said. “I tried to stick with both of them. I wore myself out. She drifted away from me.”

But Chase kept swimming to shore.

He said he would doggie paddle, then float on his back to make sure he wouldn’t tire himself out.

“The current was going the opposite way of going to the boat and the shore so it was very hard to swim that way,” Chase said.

See WSLS