4 FALL OFF JET SKIS IN HUDSON

Tuesday, June 01, 2010
By CHARLES HACK
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

Memorial Day weekend proved harrowing for four people, including a 12-year-old Jersey City girl, who were thrown from jet skis and had to be rescued from the choppy waters of the Hudson River.

The 12-year-old was one of three city residents tossed from a jet ski near Liberty State Park in Jersey City on Sunday.

Then yesterday, a 32-year-old novice jet skier was rescued after falling off a jet ski near the Weehawken riverbank.

On a private boat, off-duty Hudson County sheriff's officer Savaltore DiCiacco pulled Sunday's three victims aboard at 7:36 p.m. after the 29-year-old driver of the Kawasaki jet ski lost control of the watercraft and it overturned, police reports said.

The 29-year-old, along with the 12-year-old girl and a 30-year-old man, were holding on to the jet ski for about 20 minutes before they were rescued, reports said.

The girl was taken to the Jersey City Medical Center and treated for non-life-threatening injuries, while the men required no medical attention, police said.

In another rescue, the captain of a pleasure yacht rescued Shawn Stany, 32, of Linden, yesterday after his jet ski capsized in the Hudson just after Stany left Lincoln Harbor Yacht Club in Weehawken.

Stany, a personal trainer at the gym at Riva Pointe waterfront apartments in Weehawken, said he was in the gym when a friend invited him to pilot a jet ski solo.

Stany said yesterday he had never ridden a jet ski before, but inspired by a recently deceased cousin who "loved life," he decided to give it a go.

"I let loose. I gunned it (the jet ski) and gunned it," Stany said. "One second I am up. Then boom, I'm over."

Dalton Stetford, 41, of Teaneck, the skipper and owner of the Mega Byte I, one of three private boats that responded to the flipped-over jet ski at about 3:30 p.m., was entering Lincoln Marina when he saw the yellow jet ski bobbing up and down in the water.

Stetford made a couple of attempts to rescue Stany but the strong currents made reaching him difficult.

Finally, Stetford, with the help of three passengers, hauled Stany aboard.

"The difficult part was not hitting him," Stetford said about the water rescue. "He was exhausted but he was coherent."

Besides Weehawken police, New York City Harbor Patrol and North Hudson Regional Fire and Rescue firefighters responded to the scene.

"I told them I would take them out for dinner," Stany said about his rescuers. "We will have a light celebration to make - to my life."