A Coupeville rower owes his profound gratitude to the first responders who saved his life over the weekend.

Mike Pursell was out in his single shell sculling boat Sunday morning near Fort Casey State Park about 100 yards from shore when the rigging failed, compromising the stability and the propulsion of the small, narrow vessel. He wasn’t able to row or stay upright and fell into the cold water, where he estimated he spent close to half an hour.

Central Whidbey Island Fire and Rescue was dispatched to the scene at 10:59 a.m., according to Fire Chief Jerry Helm. The original report of a boater in distress came from someone on land; Pursell was also able to call 911 before losing his grasp on his cell phone, which now sits at the bottom of Puget Sound. A rescue boat was launched from the Keystone Boat Launch and navigated to his approximate GPS location.

With what felt like a minute or seconds before losing consciousness, Pursell said he was thinking about his two-year-old daughter and wife, pregnant with their unborn son, who he worried he would never see again. He was praying harder than he ever had before, he said. It was about that time when the rescue boat materialized and pulled him to safety.

“There’s a few seconds difference between me having this conversation and not,” he told a Whidbey News-Times reporter Monday.

Pursell was transported to WhidbeyHealth where he underwent some tests before being released. The next day, he went to the fire station in Coupeville to thank the first responders for their service.

“I am alive because the folks involved were good at their jobs,” he said.

Though Pursell had a lifejacket, this wouldn’t have saved him from hypothermia. According to data from NOAA, the average temperature of Puget Sound waters in March is between 44.5 and 46.9 degrees Fahrenheit.

Helm said that weather conditions were relatively calm, with sun and minimal wind.

“The tide that runs right around that area by the ferry boat can be very tricky and very treacherous,” he said.

Pursell’s boat will need repairs before he gets back out on the water again. And, he doesn’t plan to ever return to the area near Fort Casey.

“I really enjoy it, it’s one of the reasons I love living on Whidbey and in the Pacific Northwest,” he said of his rowing hobby.