Dog saved our lives
Jetstarr’s licks wake man as houseboat sinks
A PUPPY has been hailed a hero after saving a father and son from a sinking houseboat on the Broadwater.
Yesterday Jetstarr, a 10month-old Irish wolfhound pup, woke boatie Sam Rekic 5.30am with slobbery licks to the face as the houseboat sunk at Runaway Bay.
Mr Rekic said he then roused his son Byron, 12, so they could flee the 45-foot boat and motor to shore using an inflatable tender.
“If it wasn’t for Jetstarr we would have died, that’s for sure,” Mr Rekic said.
“Luckily we were out sleeping in the (boat’s) loungeroom because Jetstarr spewed on my bed yesterday and I wasn’t going to sleep on that.
“When he woke me up the boat was on an angle and full of water so I ran and got Byron up and came (to shore).”
Mr Rekic said he was lucky to anchor close to shore.
“If we had have been five metres further out we would have been gone,” he said.
“All our doors were closed up so we would have been on the ceiling, me and my son.
“We would have had to swim down to get out.”
Mr Rekic said he did not know how the boat filled with water and sunk.
He said he checked the boat’s bilge pump was working to remove any water from the boat’s hull at midnight.
“We don’t know how it happened,” Mr Rekic said.
“I’ve only had the boat for two months, this was the first time we’d taken it out.”
He said had been saving up for the past 12 years working as a car detailer in Melbourne to buy the $112,000 vessel.
“We wanted to go out on the long weekend and we’ve copped this,” Mr Rekic said.
“I’m pretty shocked – it could be a write off.”
Mr Rekic said he alerted water police shortly after the incident.
He believed the boat was insured but said he had not yet received the paperwork from his boat broker.