85 year old rescues 3 from sinking boat

SEBASTIAN INLET, FL -- The holidays are over, and at the San Sebastian Marina, there isn't much happening. 

Even the pelicans are lazing about on the dock.  Among the small boats docked here sits the Carol Ann.  Her owner, 85 year-old Al Tyrrell of Fort Pierce, calls her a "rugged old boat but does the job."

Al's been fishing for decades and he's even been featured on the cover of a book about the area's kingfisher anglers.  But now he's got another story to tell.

On New Year's Day, he was 10 miles out from the Sebastian Inlet heading back to shore when he saw a charter boat in trouble.

"I saw a bow real low in water and then these girls were shouting and screaming and had life preservers on," he said.

Tyrrell made three passes of the troubled boat before he could grab a line from them and tie on.

One woman and her father climbed aboard but the second woman did something unexpected.

"All of a sudden she jumps overboard in 7-foot seas and I said 'holy mackerel I can't believe that,' " Tyrrell said.

Tyrrell got a ladder to the stern of his boat and finally got the second woman on board and everyone back to shore despite 40 mile-per-hour winds and waves breaking over his boat.

Passengers on the charter boat are back north and the charter boat captain didn't want to talk about what happened that day but added Al was in the right place at the right time.

Tyrrell has comfort in knowing he got the new year off to a great start. "If you fish long enough out on the ocean you're going to have a problem. That's the way it is.  I was just glad I was there to help these people."