Man rescued after clinging to buoy for hours near Morro Bay
John Gsell told police he was thrown overboard when his boat struck a large object
– A fisherman rescued a 29-year-old man clinging to a buoy about a mile offshore of Morro Rock on Aug. 9 after he spent roughly seven hours in 55-degree water, according to an Instagram post by Morro Bay Police.
Police said John Gsell was found at about 6:45 a.m., hours after the United States Coast Guard located his unmanned boat motoring in circles about a quarter-mile off Morro Strand Beach. Morro Bay police officers, Harbor Patrol, and the Morro Bay Fire Department searched the shoreline but did not find him.
Gsell told police he was thrown overboard at about 10 p.m. Aug. 8 when his boat struck a large object. He said he tried to swim back, but the boat drifted away.
He swam toward shore after spotting the silhouette of Morro Rock, then toward a buoy he saw and heard in the distance. Gsell said reaching the buoy took nearly an hour, and he held onto it through the night with nearby seals until he was spotted by the fisherman.
Police credited the fisherman’s early departure from Morro Bay Harbor and approach toward Gsell with likely saving his life. Gsell told police he considered giving up but, as a former United States Marine, decided to keep fighting.
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