VIDEO: Giant wave flips over stolen yacht during dramatic US rescue

The US Coast Guard has conducted a nail-biting rescue amid huge swells and rough seas off the US Pacific Coast, after a boat was stolen from a nearby port.

The boat was about 10km from land, at the mouth of the Columbia River in the country’s north-west.

Two Coast Guard aircrew received a mayday broadcast from the motorboat Sandpiper on Friday (3 February 2023), while conducting a training mission nearby.

The mayday did not contain information about the location or the specific problem, but the agency triangulated the vessel’s location and boat crews and a helicopter responded.

Lifeboats swiftly launched from STA Cape Disappointment, and air crews arrived on scene to find the vessel floundering in the surf. The surf made rescue by boat too dangerous, so the aircrew decided to lower a rescue swimmer and have the man on board — 35-year-old Canadian national Jericho Labonte — enter the water.

The rescue swimmer, petty officer 1st class Branch Walton, of Greenville, South Carolina, reached Labonte and pulled him to safety.

Moments after, a large wave roared over the vessel, rolling it onto its roof. Labonte was taken back to shore for medical evaluation. Aside from symptoms of mild hypothermia he was found unharmed and later released from hospital.

Later the same day, Astoria Police received a report of a stolen boat from port security chief, Matt Hansen. Hansen told police he recognised Sandpiper from the Coast Guard’s footage, and knew it had recently been stolen. The yacht’s owner, who lives in Oregon, also reported the vessel as stolen.

(1/4) #BreakingNews – Talk about arriving in the nick of time! While conducting a training mission at the mouth of the Columbia River, 2 Coast Guard air crews received a #MAYDAY broadcast from the master of the P/C Sandpiper. After notifying watchstanders at Sector Columbia River pic.twitter.com/CtYSgpdPUG

— USCGPacificNorthwest (@USCGPacificNW) February 3, 2023

Labonte was picked up by the police within hours after an arrest warrant was issued. He is understood to have been wanted in British Columbia for numerous other charges including criminal harassment and failure to comply.

Bizarrely, Labonte was also wanted for leaving a dead fish on the porch of a historic house linked to The Goonies.

Astoria police chief, Stacy Kelly, says he didn’t know what kind of fish it was, but said police believed it was caught locally because after the video started circulating another person reported having taken Labonte fishing recently.

Kelly told media: “It’s been a really odd 48 hours.”

In March 2022, MIN reported that a man had been arrested after an alleged stolen yacht hit multiple vessels docked near the Lido Island Bridge on Newport Bay in Orange County, California.

A montage of footage filmed by passersby shows the out-of-control yacht wreaking havoc as onlookers scream warnings at those still aboard their docked boats.