To a daredevil like 14-year-old Stuart Jones of Cary, choppy waters off the coast of Wrightsville Beach on June 17 only added to the thrill of wave-jumping on a familiar ocean playground.

After all, it was hardly his first run on the water. “Every time I go to the beach, I’m out there jumping jet skis,” said Stuart, a rising freshman at Cary’s Hopewell Academy.

But his confidence at sea perhaps had never been as vital as it would prove to be on this particular day. About 7 p.m., as Stuart rode his jet ski near Mason Inlet on the north end of Wrightsville Beach, his eyes suddenly fixed on emergency personnel racing down the beach in his direction.

Someone was in trouble.

“All of a sudden, I saw rescue vehicles fly down to the beach where I was,” Stuart said. “They jumped up on top of their trucks and used binoculars to look into the ocean.”

According to a letter sent later to the Joneses, Wrightsville Beach Fire Chief Frank Smith said firefighter EMTs had received a report of a swimmer in distress near the inlet. Smith said bystanders had seen someone waving for help, but added that witnesses lost sight of the swimmer as he was swept out to sea by a strong current.

Once emergency workers arrived on the scene, their rescue efforts were delayed while they tied their Jet Ski to a trailer and towed it into the water. Meanwhile, Stuart had already begun inquiring about the situation.

“I asked if someone was missing,” he said. “They said yes and said that if I wouldn’t mind looking for them, that would be good.”

As eight- to 10-foot waves crashed around him, Stuart scoured the waters. He soon came across a man about a half-mile offshore who was fighting to stay afloat.

“He was a pretty big guy, and he said he had been out there for about 10 minutes,” Stuart said. “He got on the back of my Jet Ski, and I asked him if there was anyone else out there with him.”

There was. After searching for what at first seemed like an eternity, Stuart and the rescuee spotted the second man about five minutes later.

“I was thinking the worst because we had been looking forever and had gone so far,” Stuart said. “Finally, we saw a guy like a mile offshore, bobbing in the water.”

Stuart tossed the man his life jacket — a move his father, Randall Jones, later cautioned him against in the future. The wearied swimmer was nauseated and exhausted, and his attempts to board the jet ski caused the vessel to tip over.

Fortunately, the Wrightsville Beach Ocean Rescue squad had launched their Jet Ski by that time and made contact with the second victim. Stuart said he transported the first man back to shore while rescue workers transferred the second man to a U.S. Coast Guard ship to seek medical attention. Both swimmers survived the harrowing experience.

No surprise
As events unfolded on the beach and daylight waned, an increasingly restless Amy Jones awaited the return of her son and family friend Michael Page, 27, at her family’s second home in Wrightsville Beach. Her husband, president of Enpuricon Inc. of Apex, was at home in Cary and likewise knew nothing of what had transpired.

“When they returned about 8 or 8:15, Michael saw the look on my face,” Amy Jones said. “He said something happened and it’s OK.”

Stuart recounted the story for his mother. “My mom was just, like, stunned,” he said. “She was just speechless.” Amy Jones said she had found her voice by the next day, when she received a call from Smith, the Wrightsville Beach fire chief, about her son’s actions.

“The chief said, ‘I guess you know by now your son played a part in a rescue operation,’” she said. “I said ‘yes, and we’re proud of him for that.’”

But Randall Jones said neither he nor his wife were entirely surprised by their son’s act of heroism. “Knowing my son — his abilities on motorcycles and jumping waves and his rugged, outdoor nature in general — it’s not surprising to me that he’s accomplished something of this nature.”

The Joneses said Stuart has only begun to realize the significance of what he did that day. “He just looked at it like something he was supposed to do,” Amy said. “But the more we talk to him about, he’s realized that he really did something extraordinary.”