‘It was like Tom Hanks in Castaway’ – NBC Boston

Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy said he considers himself lucky to be alive after he found himself adrift on his boat with no power off Nantucket on Monday.

“I’m a relatively new boater,” Portnoy said in an interview with NBC10 Boston’s Colton Bradford on Tuesday. “I spent my summer’s hitting dingers, I wasn’t part of a yacht club. I’m a new boat guy — it was my third time out on a boat.”

Portnoy, 47, who posted a video to social media on Monday referring to himself as “Captain Dave,” said he still isn’t sure if he untethered his boat before trying to turn it on or if it broke free.

“Only God knows,” he said. “What I do know is I was no longer tethered to the buoy, and the boat was dead. I knew I was dead meat right then. The current was strong, probably a 20 mph wind on Nantucket, and I had no radio, I had no engine and I had no nothing. I was just floating off to sea, and I knew I was screwed.”

Barstool Sports owner Dave Portnoy, sitting in front of a “Don’t Give Up the Ship” sign, explains how nervous he felt while his boat was adrift on a boat in a Nantucket harbor and how he was rescued by a young woman in a dinghy who recognized 

“I don’t want to say I stayed calm. The ocean doesn’t care how much money you have. It’ll drown you quick, it’ll humble you quick, so I was very nervous. I didn’t know what was going to happen.”

Portnoy said he considered jumping off the boat, but luckily he didn’t have to because he ran into a woman and a child on a small rowboat, who instantly recognized him.

“I was clearly at this point exasperated, sunburned — it was like Tom Hanks in ‘Castaway,'” he said.

The woman radioed in to the harbormaster, but the line was busy, so she called the Coast Guard, who arrived and rescued him.

“I owe her my life,” he said. “Without her I could still be halfway to St. Barts, who knows?”

Portnoy said he still doesn’t know who the woman was, calling her his “unknown hero for the night.”

He also praised the Coast Guard for their professionalism.

“Ten out of 10, nothing but pure class,” he said. “They gave me the tow, they didn’t make too much fun of me, said it can happen to anybody, even the most seasoned captain … They were super professional, great at their job, and I can’t thank them enough. Without them, maybe I get eaten by a shark, you just don’t know.”

Fortunately, Portnoy said his rescue dog Miss Peaches wasn’t with him on the boat.

“No, thank God,” he said. “No, that would’ve been … I don’t know what I would’ve done. I would’ve had to protect her with my life. At that point I was very nervous for my own life. I’m not ready for her to join me on my adventures quite yet. I gotta have total confidence.”

Portnoy also vowed to get back out on the water.

“Life knocks you down, you gotta get back up,” he said. “But you can’t take the ocean lightly. That would be my advice for wannabe captains.”