An ocean paddle might have ended in tragedy if not for the quick action of two fit and savvy sailors in their 80s who plucked a pair of swamped kayakers from the chilly waters of outer Boothbay Harbor on August 22.

Ken Rosen, 84, of Miami, said he and his sailing buddy, Austin Treworgy, 85, of Brunswick, were sailing a rented 21-foot boat when they noticed a man and a teenage girl in a kayak waving to them. Treworgy said the kayak was about a mile offshore of Squirrel Island in the middle of nowhere.

Rosen said when they reached the kayakers their boat was nearly filled with water and sinking. Most surprisingly, the pair were not wearing life jackets and did not appear to have any with them. The man asked for a bailer, which the sailors did not have, and then with no other boats in sight and few other options, the sailors began the rescue.

First, the man leaped into the 60 F ocean waters and Treworgy, 5'8" and 173 pounds, struggled to bring the larger man aboard, over the stern of the sailboat.

“Austin is 85 but he has the strength of a man half his age,” Rosen said. “He did the brute force work of getting them both in the boat.”

“Once we got the guy on board, we sailed back to the kayak to get his daughter,” Treworgy said. “I couldn't get her into the boat easily so I got a rope around her so she wouldn't drown.”

While Treworgy struggled to bring the girl aboard alone, he said he was amazed both by the girl's calm in the face of danger and the man's inaction.

“She never complained; she never panicked even though she may have been about to drown,” he said.

Both Rosen and Treworgy said the man, believed to be the girl's father, appeared to be in shock and was mostly silent and did little to aid Treworgy while he worked to hoist the girl onboard. “I've never seen a more panicky look than on his face while his daughter was still in the water,” Rosen said.

While Treworgy rescued the two kayakers, Rosen sounded the alarm that brought the Coast Guard and harbor master to the scene.

“My major function was to go down below and get the air horn, which I just kept squeezing and squeezing,” Rosen said.

The Coast Guard arrived on scene within a few minutes of the successful rescue, took the wet pair aboard the Coast Guard vessel and returned them to Squirrel Island. Chief Executive Petty Officer Jim Zerinskas said the Coast Guard could not release the kayakers’ names, but neither was harmed in the incident.

Zerinskas said it was the second time this summer the Boothbay Harbor Coast Guard has responded to a “person in the water” call. On July 25, two kayakers overturned near Lower Mark Island, but managed to reach shore on their own, he said.

Both Rosen and Treworgy praised the Coast Guard for its quick response and the stranded teenager, who showed great presence of mind throughout the ordeal. “I give the Coast Guard four gold stars for getting there and to this girl who couldn't swim very well but never panicked,” Treworgy said.

While on board their vessel, Rosen determined that the two kayakers were from Philadelphia, but little else. Rosen and Treworgy said they still have a lot of questions that, at least for the present, remain unanswered.

Why were the pair so far offshore and so poorly prepared for boating? How had their boat been swamped? Several lobsters in grocery store bags were in the kayak and both men wonder how those came to be on board and whether the lobsters had any part in the tale. Rosen said he is also surprised that he has heard nothing from the kayakers since the rescue.

Both Rosen, a sailor for the last 18 years, and Treworgy, an avid, life-long sailor, said this was their first at-sea rescue.

“It was exciting, too exciting,” Treworgy said, “But I'm delighted we were there and there was a happy ending.”

Sue Mello can be reached at 207-844-4629 or suemello@boothbayregister.com.