What began as a nice July morning of walleye fishing on New York’s Lake Oneida turned into a harrowing ordeal for two friends. While Brian Palmer, 66, and Joseph Davis, 77, had fishing lines in the water, the crew of M/Y Scott Free was making way along the Erie Canal. That afternoon, near buoy 117, the yacht’s crew spotted what looked like a drifting log. It wasn’t a log — it was Palmer, who had been floating alone for nearly six hours since the fishermen’s boat capsized. The bilge pump had failed, waves pushed by the wind swamped the small boat, and it overturned. Unable to swim, Palmer clung to life in his life jacket as his friend drifted out of sight. “I saw lots of other boats, but no one came my way,” Palmer said. When the 55-foot Two Oceans turned toward him, he thought they hadn’t noticed him either. “I was afraid I couldn’t get out of their way.” Delivery Capt. Louis Kitchin maneuvered close enough for Capt. Esteban Estrada and Deckhand Marc Riascos to muster, talk with Palmer, toss him a rescue line, and lower the swim platform to pull him aboard. “No one even knew they were missing until we found Brian,” Kitchin said. “If he didn’t have a life jacket, he’d be talking to Jesus right now.” The crew worked quickly to warm him on board. “He was shriveled up and cold,” Kitchin recalled. “The water must have been in the high 60s.” Estrada reflected on the dangers of a day on the water. “Everyone thinks boating is always calm and fun, but you’re out there on something you hope will hold you up, in a place you’re not meant to be,” he said. “We have to plan for what can go wrong, because the weather can turn in minutes.” His advice was blunt: wear a life jacket. “No one wants to wear a seatbelt either, but you do,” Estrada said. “If you’re out in a jon boat, especially on a windy lake with boat traffic, wear it. And carry other lifesaving gear — hydrostatic Type III jackets that inflate automatically, even a personal EPIRB that alerts the Coast Guard if you go overboard.” Palmer’s friend Davis was later rescued by another vessel. The relief was real, especially since tragedy had struck the lake just a week earlier when two people drowned after a boat capsized.