NH Heroes: Brady Procon stopped a runaway boat from plowing into sailing students
Navy Seaman Recruit Brady Procon was 17 last July 4 weekend, when a crisis erupted in a quiet cove of Lake Winnipesaukee.
On Wednesday, the New Hampshire Union Leader will honor him as a New Hampshire Hero of 2024.
Hero Awards logo
NH Heroes: Manchester firefighters were rescuers in storm-ravaged N.C.
When the Swiftwater Rescue Team from the Manchester Fire Department arrived in Boone, North Carolina, during Hurricane Helene last September, they knew their skills would be tested.
Procon and friends were cooking hot dogs and hamburgers, talking and laughing on a Saturday afternoon when a loud motor boat roared into peaceful Smith Cove in Gilford, where his father, Jeremy Procon, owns vacation property.
'We heard the sound of a roaring boat engine, which was super out of place because it's a no-wake zone. There usually isn't any loud noise or chaos,' Procon said Monday by phone from Navy boot camp. He saw an out-of-control boat with no one aboard — 'a danger to everyone who was around the water.'
People were screaming.
'It unfolded before my eyes. My dad said, 'There's nobody on that boat.''
The operator of a sailing school motor boat had fallen out of the boat, which was careening toward sailing students in their sailboats.
Procon's father jumped in his own boat to get kids out of the water. Procon climbed aboard a neighbor's personal watercraft.
The neighbor drove his craft as close to the boat as he could get, Procon said, but someone had to jump onto the boat, which he estimates was going 15 to 20 mph.
'He looked at me like I was crazy. We circled once, then got close and I jumped on.' His ribs struck the center console. 'I grabbled the steering and turned the throttle way down' to get it away from the dock and the youngsters sailing.
'When I got it, I was shaking. People were clapping a lot. My ribs hurt. I hit that boat pretty hard,' Procon said. 'My friends at the dock said, 'What did you just do?' 'I don't even know,' I said.'
'It was just so random, out of the blue, just another Saturday. The summer before was the first time I drove a jet ski,' he said. 'At first, it was tunnel vision. I saw that boat and wanted to stop it.'
Procon, an avid dirt bike rider and power sports fan, said his goal in the Navy is 'to find a good career for myself. I've always loved the military and the Navy. The movie 'Top Gun.' The discipline and the traditional aspect. The uniform looks good. So far, it's the people. The people in the Navy are awesome. I've met some friends for life.'
'Brady's a pretty courageous kid, pretty athletic as well,' said his father, Jeremy. 'There had to be 15 little sailboats out there that day. We ran out to get the kids out of the situation.'
It was Brady's idea to stop the motorboat, his father said.
'He's always the first to jump off a boat, the first to jump in the river, the first to do a back flip. He's a go-getter. He lives life on the edge.'
'In hindsight, I would have just cleared the people out of the way. He was focused on stopping the boat itself.'
rbaker@unionleader.com
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Washington Post
an hour ago
- Washington Post
Miss Manners: Minister must learn to juggle conversations
Dear Miss Manners: I am a ministry leader at my church and am well-known within the congregation. After the church service, many people like to stay in the lobby for a few minutes to chat. I find myself often in an embarrassing situation that I don't know how to handle: Suppose I've been chatting with someone, let's call them Person A, for just a minute. Then I feel someone, Person B, touch my shoulder or arm to get my attention. I turn to see that it's another friendly person who wishes to chat.
Washington Post
an hour ago
- Washington Post
Asking Eric: Hoarder's friend wants to help but doesn't want to shame
Dear Eric: I have a friend of several decades and recently learned she is a hoarder. We always met outside our homes for coffee or lunch. I just assumed it was more convenient. A few months ago, she texted to tell me she's been embarrassed for me to find out her 'secret.' She also asked me for help. I was thrilled and offered to help, but she refused to make a commitment.
Washington Post
an hour ago
- Washington Post
Carolyn Hax: After visits to their mom's, stepkids unleash on their stepmom
Adapted from an online discussion. Dear Carolyn: My stepkids don't like me. I suspect it's due to alienation from their mother. My husband has full custody, and they see their high-conflict mother every other weekend. Every time they come back, they are different — hostile and nasty to me, despite my caring for them and providing for their needs. I'm thinking of pulling back and letting their father lead. As of right now, I do a lot of the house managing, cooking and making sure chores get done. My husband is resentful and thinks it'll reinforce their negative opinions about me. How do I do this delicately? — Loving, Caring Stepmom Loving, Caring Stepmom: I think you're jumping to the most negative conclusion (they 'don't like me') when the same facts also support a different one. That they dump on you after they've been to their mom's suggests their hostility is about her, not you. Maybe they're coming home full of nasty things she said about you — the obvious interpretation. Or, they are stressed in her home, and they come home wrecked. And the home you made with their dad feels safe, so that's where they let out the ugly stuff. If this is true, then of course that would feel awful for you — like punishment for your good deeds. (That should be parenting's tagline.) Nor is it good that they do this. I'm not excusing it. Soon, as adults, they will bear full responsibility for behaving civilly and doing their emotional work. But kids are still emotional works in progress and can't be expected to do graceful things — yet — with some seriously complex feelings. Especially with so many adults so publicly making a mess of it. They may, for example, feel intense guilt for preferring their stepmother's care to their mother's. I'm not saying this is true — it's a for-instance. I'm just suggesting they may trust you and count on you in ways you don't understand, or have reasons they come home angry that you aren't privy to. What I propose is a visualization that can help all of you regardless of who resents whom and why: Imagine you're a giant rock on a shoreline. The stepkids are the sea. You are there, doing what you do, being who you are, no matter how the waters roil and crash around you. 'That hurts,' you might say, but no punishing back. It's the long game, and it is powerful. As for your husband — he is resentful, why? If it's about your washing your hands of everyone and letting him deal with it, then, okay. I imagine you both entered marriage and full custody as a team commitment. If he resents that you expect him to get more involved than he feels like being, though, then I'll start to suspect a more problematic backstory than just a problematic ex and their problematically acting-out kids. A reader's thought: · When I brought my now-spouse into my kids' lives after divorce, I spoke to each kid separately and said, 'You don't have to like X, but you do have to treat them with the same respect everyone is due.' My kids were free to reject every overture to do something with X, but only with 'No, thank you.' And when they crossed the line, I made them apologize. Also, it was my job to do this, not X's, and I thanked X repeatedly for their patience. Each kid softened in their own time. I felt I had to honor how little agency my kids had in the shifting family dynamics but also teach them there are right and wrong ways to treat people.
