The Mystery Boat: Battle for Survival | REPLAY

Summary

The Miracle Files

Episode: The Mystery Boat: Battle for Survival | REPLAY

Hosts: Holly Worthington & Emily Jones
Date: October 27, 2025

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Brief Overview

This episode of The Miracle Files revisits one of the podcast’s most remarkable and beloved miracle stories: “The Mystery Boat.” Hosts Holly and Emily recount how a seemingly ordinary deep-sea fishing trip turned into an extraordinary search-and-rescue when two fishermen encountered a boat adrift with no one aboard—a real-life story where providence, courage, and quick thinking led to a life-saving miracle at sea. The episode emphasizes faith, divine intervention, and the impact of selfless action—offering hope and inspiration rooted in both meticulous recounting and heartfelt testimony.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Setting the Scene: A Day of Fishing Turns Mysterious

• Andrew Sherman and his son Jack head out fishing farther offshore than ever before.
• Encounter a boat heading directly at them, unmanned and drifting dangerously (01:52–04:02).

“I looked out in the distance, and heading dead center towards our boat was another boat. And I was like, what is going on here? We're in the middle of nowhere, and this guy is just running towards us.”
—Andrew Sherman (02:58)

2. The Eerie Discovery

• As the mystery boat passes within ten yards, Andrew and Jack notice no one is behind the wheel, music playing, and fishing lines in the water (04:33–05:09).
• They try in vain to get someone’s attention—use air horn, shout—consider boarding the runaway vessel (05:16–06:16).

“As the boat drove by...there was no one behind the steering wheel. And we're like, what the heck? That is, like, super bizarre.”
—Jack Sherman (04:54)

3. Boarding the Empty Vessel

• Jack, a Naval Academy midshipman, boards the moving boat, musters courage despite fears of what (or whom) he might find (06:16–06:49).
• Finds the boat is, in fact, empty—no secret compartments or hidden crew. Just alarming clues: wallet and life jacket left behind (06:56–07:21).

“Are you prepared for what you may find when you go on this boat?”
—Andrew Sherman (06:16)

4. Radioing for Help—The Coast Guard Responds

• Andrew and Jack communicate with the Coast Guard, share ID info (“Sasha Scheller”), vessel description, and location (08:28–10:15).
• The Coast Guard instructs them to check the boat’s GPS history, essential for retracing the missing person’s last known location.

5. Taking Initiative: The Search Plan

• Upon realizing help might take too long, Andrew and Jack decide to search for Sasha themselves—interpreting GPS “waypoints” and boat movement patterns (12:30–14:15).
• Discover boots floating, sparking both hope and dread—could Sasha be alive after all? (14:25–14:51)

“I would take my boots off because I could swim easier...He fell off and he was still alive.”
—Andrew Sherman (14:51)

6. A Miraculous Sighting and Rescue

• Applying logical deductions and gut instinct, Andrew crisscrosses the ocean. After a dramatic search, he spots a hand raised in the water—a life-affirming moment (15:51–16:20).

“I just saw this hand come out of the water...and I just came on the radio and was like, Coast Guard, I have found him. I have found him.”
—Andrew Sherman (15:51)

• Sasha is safely pulled onto the boat, after nearly three hours in the water—and recounts his relief and overwhelming gratitude (22:42–23:23).

“A crazy good feeling...to be able to relax and not realizing how tense you actually were until I could grab a hold of that boat...my legs cramped up, who knows how long I could have lasted? Could have been another five minutes.”
—Sasha Scheller (23:19)

7. Sasha's Ordeal: First-Hand Survivor Story

• Sasha details the split-second mistake that sent him into the sea (removing his life jacket to get sun, slipping while relieving himself) (17:02–17:43), his attempts to attract help, and the racing thoughts about his children and life (18:10–19:48).
• Survival instincts kick in—swimming toward where he last saw other boats, conserving energy, and improvising with floating seaweed for buoyancy (19:56–20:54).

“That boat was gone in a matter of a minute...you can't see it anymore. It's gone.”
—Sasha Scheller (17:54)

8. The Miracle’s Mechanics: Divine Timing or Chance?

• Analysis of how Sasha’s boat changed course after he fell overboard—a missing fishing rod may have caused the unmanned boat to veer directly toward Andrew and Jack (24:32–26:57).
• Andrew (math major) claims the odds of that convergence were astronomically small; both he and Jack call it a miracle.

“It's like 0.00, like 9 or 10 zeros point like 1%. So that's just like completely unbelievable.”
—Jack Sherman (25:56)

9. Faith, Fate, and Gratitude

• Andrew and Jack are open about their belief in divine intervention, while Sasha sees his rescue as a combination of nature and human courage (27:11–27:45).

“You may be maybe using that higher power and higher plan like we were used and put in the right place at the right time.”
—Andrew Sherman (27:11)

• Emotional impact on all families involved—Sasha’s wife tells the Shermans, “You didn’t just save Sasha, you saved our family.” (28:27)

10. The Lesson: Safety and Preparedness

• Sasha uses his experience to advocate for life jackets and safety gear—no matter how skilled you are, always use the proper equipment.

“It was just one really stupid decision. If I would have had that life jacket on...there was a whistle, that boat would have heard me...I had a VHF radio. All the boats within 5 miles would have heard me...So get it and use it. Don't just have it. So you can say you have it, but actually use it.”
—Sasha Scheller (30:57)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• The uncanny chance encounter:

  “The most profound thing that came out of this entire thing...His wife during that visit said...you didn’t just save Sasha, you saved our family.”
  —Andrew Sherman (28:27)

• Hosts reflect on the terror and resilience:

  “I get scared in a lake thinking the fish is going to bite my toes...Think about in the ocean you're like, what is beneath me?”
  —Holly Worthington (29:30–29:41)

• Divine intervention or luck?

  “Whether you attribute it to luck or you attribute it to divine intervention, I'm grateful Sasha's alive.”
  —Emily Jones (32:57)

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Timeline of Important Segments

| Timestamp | Segment | |-----------|----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 01:52 | Sherman and son encounter unmanned boat | | 04:54 | Jack realizes there's nobody behind the wheel | | 06:49 | Decision to board and search the empty boat | | 08:28 | Radioing the Coast Guard, Sasha's identity revealed | | 10:35 | Analyzing GPS data, developing the search plan | | 14:25 | Finding Sasha's boots in the water | | 15:51 | Andrew spots a hand in the water—Sasha is found | | 17:43 | Sasha recounts his fall and initial feelings of anger, fear, and survival instinct | | 23:19 | Sasha’s emotions upon being rescued | | 24:32 | The unexplainable course-change of the runaway boat—a miracle or math-defying odds | | 27:11 | Divergent perspectives: divine intervention vs. serendipity | | 28:27 | Emotional impact—Sasha’s wife’s gratitude | | 30:57 | Sasha advocates for use of safety gear and life vests | | 32:57 | Reflections on the importance of the Shermans’ actions |

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Conclusion & Takeaways

• True heroism: Andrew and Jack’s selfless persistence transformed a likely tragedy into a miraculous rescue—underscoring the power of faith and initiative.
• Divine timing: The inexplicable sequence of events—especially the unmanned boat seeking out its would-be rescuers—leaves even the pragmatic awestruck.
• Lasting impact: The lives of all involved are forever altered; their stories continue to encourage vigilance and faith among listeners.
• Safety first: Sasha’s advocacy for always using safety gear closes the episode on a practical, potentially life-saving note.

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The Miracle Files invites you to reflect on the role of faith, courage, and providence in our world—and reminds us that light can, indeed, shine in the most unexpected places.

Transcript

[Holly Worthington]

Before we begin, this episode is made possible by angel studios. Go to angel.com Miracle Files to show your support.

[Coast Guard Operator]

Coast Guard. Go ahead. We just found a boat. There is no one aboard. Roger, cab. Was the boat moving when you came upon it? Boat was moving. It almost ran us down. So we moved out of the way, followed the boat. My son found no one on board. Only thing we found are wallet keys and a pair of suspenders. Rod, do that.

[Sasha Scheller]

Captain.

[Emily Jones]

This is the Miracle Files. I'm Emily Jones.

[Holly Worthington]

And I'm Holly Worthington. We're two sisters who love a captivating true story. But we're also seeking more light in our lives.

[Emily Jones]

So we're on a mission to find and share unforgettable, uplifting stories of God's miracles. We hope you'll join us on this journey.

[Holly Worthington]

Welcome back to the Miracle Files. Every now and then we do replay episodes because we have some amazing stories that some of our new listeners may not have heard yet. And the Mystery Boat is one of those stories.

[Emily Jones]

Yeah, it's one of the first episodes that we did and to this day it is still one of our most listened to episodes because it is incredible and it's one of my all time favorites. The miracle is just like so undeniable in this story.

[Holly Worthington]

Right.

[Emily Jones]

So we gotta listen to it.

[Holly Worthington]

And seriously, the mystery boat kind of put us on the map. It was after this episode that our podcast really started. Taking off.

[Emily Jones]

Yeah.

[Holly Worthington]

Anyway, we don't want to spoil it too much because it's called the Mystery Boat for a reason. But if it's your first time, enjoy this incredible episode. And if not, this is one I think you could listen to more than once and love it just as much as the first time.

[Emily Jones]

Yeah, for sure. All right, let's jump in. It was a perfect day to go deep sea fishing off the coast of North Carolina. The sun shone brightly in a nearly cloudless summer sky. Andrew Sherman and his 21 year old son Jack headed out like they had done many times to troll offshore near a place called 23 Mile Rock. They cruised along slowly with several baited lures hung from their boat, but found no fish. They decided to head out further and further. They eventually worked their way about 37 miles offshore, the furthest they had ever gone out to fish. Hoping to change their luck, the father and son duo decided to take a break from trolling and dropped some lures to the bottom of the ocean. Their boat drifted along, bobbing above depths of 110 to 115ft of deep blue water. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary on this beautiful summer day, until Andrew spotted a distant boat heading straight at them.

[Andrew Sherman or Jack Sherman]

I looked out in the distance, and heading dead center towards our boat was another boat. And I was like, what is going on here? We're in the middle of nowhere, and this guy is just running towards us.

[Emily Jones]

At that point, the stranger's boat was about 200 yards away from them. Andrew looked down at his rod to reel it in.

[Andrew Sherman or Jack Sherman]

I looked up again. The boat is still right on our path, 150 to 100 yards. I look back at Jack to see where he is in terms of what he's doing, and I'm like, hey, are you almost off the bottom? And he was like, yep, yep, I'm almost off the bottom.

[Emily Jones]

Andrew looked back at the boat. It was closing in on them now, less than 100 yards away and still heading straight at them.

[Andrew Sherman or Jack Sherman]

And I say to jock, you're not going to believe this. We have some y and he has no idea we're here, and he's going to run straight into us.

[Emily Jones]

The mystery boat closed in on them. Jack finished reeling in his lure. Andrew knew they had to move quickly.

[Andrew Sherman or Jack Sherman]

And then I went to turn the boat on. And there was a brief moment where I thought to myself, I really hope the boat doesn't, you know, have a problem and it turns on. No problem, because if not, this guy's going to run into us.

[Emily Jones]

Andrew turned the ignition. To his relief, the engine fired up.

[Andrew Sherman or Jack Sherman]

We put the motor in gear, and we started puttering forward. And as we puttered forward, this boat just passed within 10 yards or so of our stern.

[Emily Jones]

In disbelief, Andrew and Jack watched the boat drive past. They thought it was strange that they hadn't noticed the boat sooner and wondered why the boat had almost run straight into them. But stranger still was what they observed as the boat drove past. Here's Andrew's son Jack, explaining what happened next.

[Andrew Sherman or Jack Sherman]

As the boat drove by, you could hear the radio was playing on the boat. There was, like, music. He had, like, five rods out or something that he was trolling. As it goes by, we look in the cabin and there was no one behind the steering wheel. And we're like, what the heck? That is, like, super bizarre.

[Emily Jones]

The two men wondered if the boat's owner could be down in the cabin, unaware of how close they'd come to colliding.

[Andrew Sherman or Jack Sherman]

So it goes by. We, like, yell at him to try to get his attention, and there was no response. So then we, like, put our rods in the rod holders and we took off after him. I think he was going like 8 or 9 knots, so like 10 miles per hour. And we were coast up alongside him and we had an air horn and my dad dug that out and he starts blasting the air horn and kind of driving next to him and there's no response. And we're like, oh, my gosh, like, what if someone, like, had a heart attack or a stroke below deck? So we'd talk and we're like, if there's no the next two minutes, we should probably go ahead and try to board the boat.

[Emily Jones]

Minutes ticked by with Andrew and Jack coasting alongside the boat, trying to get someone's attention with no response. So a debate ensued between the father and son about who would make the treacherous leap onto the mystery boat to investigate. Jack, a midshipman at the Naval Academy, was younger and felt he would be better to make the leap. Andrew feared what Jack might think find aboard the boat.

[Andrew Sherman or Jack Sherman]

You know, as we're having this joking conversation about who's jumping in the boat, I actually did say to him very seriously, are you prepared for what you may find when you go on this boat?

[Emily Jones]

Jack assured his father that he was prepared to deal with whatever lay beyond the deck of the boat. But he still couldn't help but wonder what he was about to face.

[Andrew Sherman or Jack Sherman]

We camped alongside and kind of like match the waves and everything. That's definitely a big, big adrenaline rush, just jumping in like somebody's boat 40 miles offshore and you didn't know, like, anything. I was like, for sure, there's got to be some dead guy down here.

[Emily Jones]

Jack made the leap and was stunned at what he found, or perhaps more accurately, what he didn't find.

[Andrew Sherman or Jack Sherman]

So he jumped on board and looked. There's nobody in the deck. I'm like, all right, cool. I, like, ease my way to the cabin expecting to find something, and the cabin's just completely empty. So I put the boat in neutral, turn everything off, reeling on the lines. I called my dad. I'm like, the boat's empty. And my dad goes, are you sure? Like, check again. It's like a 23 foot boat. I'm like, dad, it's like 23ft. I promise. There's like, nothing here to see. There's no secret doors.

[Emily Jones]

No secret doors. But Jack did soon find some items that alarmed both father and son. A wallet and a life jacket. These articles spelled out one thing for Andrew and Jack. Man overboard. And even worse, man overboard without a life jacket. Had this man been fishing and somehow fallen? All they had to go on was an empty boat with some Eerily important belongings on board. Beyond that, the two men had no idea how long ago the boat's captain might have gone over. It could have been hours ago. If the boat's captain had survived the fall, it must have been horrific to watch his boat drive off into the distance without him. Andrew and Jack had a sinking feeling that someone was likely out there, 40 miles from shore, fighting for their life, if they were even still alive. The father and son hurried and tied the boats up together and radioed the Coast Guard. Here is the actual call Andrew and Jack made.

[Coast Guard Operator]

Coast Guard Station, Wrightsville Beach. Coast Guard Station Wrightsville Beach. Come in. Vessel hailing this Coast Guard. Go ahead. Coast Guard Station, Riceville Beach. We just found a boat at 3351, 362 North, 7710, 177 West. There is no one aboard. Roger. Can you see a description of the vessel and a vessel name? We will check for vessel name. I can give you the ID we found on board. Sheller. S C H E L L E R. When we found the vessel, it was doing about 8 knots. Roger, cabman. We copied Sheller as the last name. Can you say again? First name? First name.

[Andrew Sherman or Jack Sherman]

Sasha.

[Coast Guard Operator]

S A S C H A. Roger, Cab Sasha. Sheller, request you say again, was the boat moving when you came upon it? Boat was moving. It almost ran us down. So we moved out of the way, followed the boat, hit it with four or five blasts on an air horn. Waited about 10 minutes. My son found no one on board.

[Andrew Sherman or Jack Sherman]

Boat.

[Coast Guard Operator]

Vessel number is NC 2683 E as an echo. N as in Nancy. Roger that. Cab. Other than the ID on board, did you see any other sign of any other persons on the boat? We went over the entire boat. It's a 23 foot Parker Cuddy cabin. No one on board that we can find. Lines were all deployed like he was fishing a spread. Roger, cabin.

[Emily Jones]

The Coast Guard encouraged Andrew and Jack to access the GPS system on the boat to see if they could give any coordinates of where the boat might have come from. With the two boats tied up and drifting together, Andrew boarded the mystery boat and joined Jack in the cabin where they radioed the Coast Guard again with the GPS history.

[Andrew Sherman or Jack Sherman]

Yeah, so the boat leaves like a track, essentially, so you can see where the boat left, where he started, where he came out. And then he went like 23 miles offshore, actually the same place that we initially were at. And then he began pushing offshore further and further so we could see where the boat went. We were able to like report those coordinates to the Coast Guard. We probably talked to the coast guard for 20 or 30 minutes on the radio. And the Coast Guard was like, okay, like, roger, thank you. And I was like, the end of the conversation. We were like, what? Like, there's a dude out here with no life Jack. At all. What do you mean? Like, thank you. So we were like, golly, like, we gotta. We should go try to find this guy. We can't just let him drown out here, which we knew is pretty dull. Like, I mean, the chances of. I was convinced the whole time that we were probably going to wait for a body to gas up and then float back to the surface, because the chances of floating out there with no life jacket for a while is not too high.

[Emily Jones]

There are critical moments in life. Forks in the road, some call them. And this was one of those moments for Andrew and Jack. They could go home and leave everything in the hands of the Coast Guard, or they could search for the man overboard, this stranger now known to them as Sasha Scheller. The ocean is vast and endless. Only those who spend time out on the ocean truly understand how vast it is. And these two men understood it well. They knew any attempt at rescue would be almost impossible, like trying to find a needle in a haystack. But they weren't the type of men to just give up when someone could possibly still be alive and in a desperate situation. In fact, as soon as the Coast Guard said, thank you, Jack said, we're going to go find him. They ended the call with the Coast Guard and immediately devised a plan.

[Andrew Sherman or Jack Sherman]

So we ended up looking at the gps. We deemed he was making normal fishing patterns or trolling around. And then at one point, we saw the boat kind of go straight for a while, and then it just kind of veered off into this, like, weird abnormal pattern where it intersected our boat a few miles later. And we're like, that seems like where he may have fallen off, if he did fall off. So to give this some more perspective on his gps, you saw this dotted line, a trail that came out, you know, fished around a little bit, fished around a little bit, fished around a little bit, got out to the area that we were in. And then what it did was it made this looping turn, crossed back on itself, curved back around, and then headed back towards land and encountered us, like, right there.

[Emily Jones]

As Andrew and Jack mapped out the coordinates, they also noticed that Sasha had several waypoints on the GPS system. A waypoint happens when the GPS is manually touched and is a point of reference, kind of like dropping A pin location for navigation purposes.

[Andrew Sherman or Jack Sherman]

And not far from where we were, it had a waypoint. So we knew that he had touched his screen there. So we came up with a plan. Then I will run Sasha's boat and Jack will run mine. And I can see the GPS for Sasha. And I said, jack, I'm going to take you back to his last waypoint where we knew he was on the boat. And when we get to that waypoint, I want you to make ever enlarging circles from that waypoint. Just keep going out from that waypoint. I'm going to go back over here to where the boat made this big loop, and I'm just going to crisscross through that whole area. I mean, I had no idea why I was doing it that way. But anyway, that's what we did.

[Emily Jones]

Jack traveled to the last waypoint. For several minutes, he made concentric circles around it. And then he spotted something in the water.

[Andrew Sherman or Jack Sherman]

Yeah. So he started a search, and I guess like 20 or 30 minutes in. I don't know how I saw this in the ocean, but I found a pair of boots. Boots, like, floating in the water. Just regular deck boots he'd be fishing with. So I scooped those up. Rate him in. The Coast Guard raided into my dad, and I. I thought, I'm like, oh, my gosh. Like, did his boots slip off him when he, like, drowned or something?

[Emily Jones]

While Jack saw the boots as a bad sign, Andrew had a different thought.

[Andrew Sherman or Jack Sherman]

So I was about 3/4 of a mile from Jack, searching through this big loop. And I don't know why, it wasn't based on anything really concrete, but I just thought if I had fallen overboard, I would take my boots off because I could swim easier with my boots off. And so that said to me, he fell off and he was still alive. And then for some reason that said to me, between where he had touched the screen and there was a straight line before it made this big curve. I don't know why, in my mind, I thought he fell off somewhere in that straight line.

[Emily Jones]

Andrew drove his boat back to the start of the straight line and let his boat drift. It drifted south, which made Andrew think that Sasha may have drifted south as well. He crisscrossed over the line slightly to the north and then back towards the south, scanning the horizon for any signs of life. He took another turn and went northward over the line and again headed south. And that's when he saw it.

[Andrew Sherman or Jack Sherman]

I all of a sudden saw this big splash on the surface how they liked, 300 yards away. And I Thought, that is either a big fish or that is somebody. And I sped the boat up as fast as it could go, cut the distance, and then I just saw this hand come out of the water and reach across in a big arc like that. And I just came on the radio and I was like, coast guard radio station Wilmington, I have found him. I have found him.

[Emily Jones]

Earlier that day, Sasha Scheller, an experienced swimmer, surfer and fisherman, had been out fishing on what started out to be a perfect day. Sasha heard over the radio that other fishermen were catching gaffer mahi mahi, which are very large mahi mahis, and he saw several boats heading that way. The waves were unusually calm, so he decided to drive out further than normal until he reached about 40 miles offshore. Sasha had always been very safety minded. However, he let his guard down just for a moment. And a moment was all that it took.

[Sasha Scheller]

I was out fishing and I set up all my rigs. I was trolling them behind me, and it was so calm and so beautiful. And I'm going to take my life jacket off for just a little while and get some sun. And that was the biggest mistake I ever made. So I'm just cruising along, listening to some music, and this is the part that a lot of people kind of make fun of. So I was standing right there by the steering wheel and I had to basically relieve myself. So I turned to the side of the boat, right next to the steering wheel, did what I had to do, and when I was turning back around to face the steering wheel, my foot slipped and I just rolled right over the side of the boat.

[Emily Jones]

He first tried to grab the side of the boat without success. He had one last chance to grab the back platform of the boat, but it was impossible with the boat moving so quickly.

[Sasha Scheller]

That boat was gone in a matter of a minute. I mean, when you're your whole body's in the water and on your head sticking up and you're watching that boat go, it's a minute or two and you can't see it anymore. It's gone.

[Emily Jones]

Sasha watched in horror as his boat got further and further away. So much went through Sasha's mind in the moments that followed. At one point, he saw a boat in the distance. He tried yelling and screaming as loud as he could, but his hopes were quickly dashed as the boat captain didn't see him and drove out of sight. He was left alone with only his thoughts in what felt like an endless sea.

[Sasha Scheller]

I was pretty angry, pretty upset with.

[Andrew Sherman or Jack Sherman]

Myself.

[Sasha Scheller]

When I started to talk about the details. Is when it kind of floods back, you have a bunch of different thoughts that go through your head. The first one was kids. You know, you gotta leave your kids. You think about your children growing up without you. You know, now that I'm older and mid-40s, you know, you think, start thinking about, man, I don't have enough life insurance. Realizing what all this would do to them, and you start thinking about long term, what your actions did and what the consequences are. So that's why all the anger was there. It was really anger at myself for the one simple decision I made that risked everything.

[Emily Jones]

After several minutes of treading water, Sasha's fear and anger gave way to thoughts of survival.

[Sasha Scheller]

I think your mind automatically turns itself onto preservation mode. So pretty fast, I would say, I don't know, 15, 20 minutes, I was like, you know what? I know I'm about three miles away from where those other five boats were. And that's where I remembered the swell direction. So I started swimming in the direction of where those five boats were. About every 10 minutes or so, I duck my head underwater and listen. Sound travels much better underwater. So I'd listen for boats. Yeah, every now and then I think two times I heard a boat, but they were way off in the distance. So I just kept swimming. And after about an hour or so, I started trying to spot some sargasso seaweed. And if you're not familiar, it's a seaweed that floats. It has a little air sacs in it. So I was going to take my shorts off and stuff them with as much sargasso seaweed as possible. So I had something to mentally hold on to if it went into the night.

[Emily Jones]

Agonizing hours passed before he saw another boat.

[Sasha Scheller]

After two hours, I saw a boat coming towards me at a high rate of speed. And then it started leaving again. And I thought that was quite strange. But then about five minutes later, it was doing it again. It was coming towards me. And then when that happened the third time, I just started kicking my legs as much as I could and waving my arms and splashing water, just trying to get anything to get attention. And then next thing you know, the boat's speeding straight towards me. And not until it was probably five yards away from me, I realized it was my boat and it was Andrew driving my boat.

[Emily Jones]

This is the point where Andrew called into the Coast Guard.

[Coast Guard Operator]

Coast Guard, this is Parker, over. I have found him. Coast Guard, this is Parker. I found him.

[Andrew Sherman or Jack Sherman]

And then at that point, Jack heard all of that on the radio and he raced to where we were. I raced up to Sasha in the water, spun the back of his boat around to him, shut the motor off, ran to him. He was cramping up pretty badly. Pulled him up onto the swim platform on the back of the boat. Initially just laid on the swim platform and recovered for about 30 seconds. And then he was able to get up and come into the back of the boat and sit on the back transom of the boat. At that point, Jack was there. He tied up to the boat again. I asked Sasha if he had anything on board like gatorade, and he was like, yeah, he had a cooler and we got him a gatorade. We just sat on the back of the boat for like 10 minutes and drank a gatorade and kind of recovered. And, you know, we were just like, I'm so happy to see you. And he was like, I'm so happy to see you. And it was. Yeah, it was pretty special.

[Coast Guard Operator]

Parker from the coast guard. Roger, good cop. You found one of the persons in the water. Do you have him on board?

[Andrew Sherman or Jack Sherman]

Over.

[Coast Guard Operator]

Coast guard wrightsville beach. Coast guard Wrightsville beach. I confirm this is Parker. We have him. He has safe on board. Roger C. Could you have a confirm? He was the only person on board the boat. That's 104. Only person on the boat.

[Emily Jones]

We asked Sasha how he felt when he realized he was going to be rescued. This was his response.

[Sasha Scheller]

I don't know.

[Andrew Sherman or Jack Sherman]

So.

[Sasha Scheller]

A crazy good feeling. I don't know if I could put it into words. I mean, it's just to be able to relax and not realizing how tense you actually were until I could grab a hold of that boat. I mean, yeah, I'm in good shape, but as soon as I grabbed that boat, my legs cramped up. I mean, who knew how long I could have lasted? Could have been another five minutes. And my legs cramped. Who knows? But yeah, it's just such a mixed emotions of relief, ecstasy, you know, it's just. It's kind of hard to describe. As soon as my legs became uncrimped. Now just bear hug Andrew.

[Emily Jones]

It was truly a miracle that Sasha had been found. Part of this miracle is that Sasha's boat had driven directly at two men who were willing to do all it took to find him. But even more miraculous is how the boat ended up turning without a captain steering it from its original trajectory to drive straight at Andrew and Jack.

[Andrew Sherman or Jack Sherman]

I think the coolest part of the story for me is when Sasha got back home. He called us and he said, hey, I just got back to my Boat, like I don't care at all because you guys just saved my life and everything. But did you guys take one of the rods off the boat? I was trolling six rods when I fallen off and we were like, no, he didn't take any rods. So he went back at his GPS and back to. My dad was talking about the way the boat was moving initially where it made big arc and then kind of shot on the straight line where it had gone straight towards us. The rod that he was missing was on his left outrigger, which is where the boat turned towards. And the only possible explanation for why a rod would just randomly fall out of the outrigger is if like a huge fish beyond belief grabbed the bait that he was trawling, pulled all the line off the rod like 3, 400 yards, tilted to the side, so the rod went somewhat horizontal, the water and was able to pop out of the outrigger and the boat straightened out again directly on a course straight towards us. So I think that is like the craziest part of the story. Yeah, I'm a math major, sort of like ran the numbers on the chances that we would have seen his boat out there, the chance of his boat going close enough to ours, much less on the direct trajectory where we had to move our boat out of the way. It's like 0.00, like 9 or 10 zeros point like 1%. So that's just like completely unbelievable that that would have happened.

[Emily Jones]

Sasha agrees that this is the only way his boat could have turned the way it did.

[Sasha Scheller]

So the interesting part is about three quarters of a mile or so after I fell out of the boat, my boat started turning to the left and then all of a sudden it made a 90 degree turn. The interesting part about that is, is that I was missing a fishing rod, one of the ones I was using to troll with, and it happened to be on the same side that that boat turned to on the left side. You know, it's not like a river or lake and there's nothing, a whole lot of debris out there and a little bit of seaweed's not going to be able to pull a boat. So the only real kind of explanation is that I actually caught a fish and it started taking line out and drag, causing it to drift to the left. And then when it got to the end of the line where it's tied off on the reel, it was enough to pull the boat. That changed the direction of my boat to make it go towards Andrew and Jack, which is pretty, pretty Crazy.

[Emily Jones]

Sasha didn't grow up a religious man. He feels more connected to nature than anything and attributes his survival to both nature and the courageous men who saved his life. Andrew and Jack see things a little differently.

[Andrew Sherman or Jack Sherman]

It's like there's no way that would have happened without a miracle or divine intervention. That's like, it just wouldn't have happened, you know, no way would have happened. It's like, why do some miracles happen while like other super tragic, horrible things happen? I think you have to press like the I believe button that like blind state and just know there's a higher power and a higher plan that you don't fully understand. You may be maybe using that higher power and higher plan like we were used and put in the right place at the right time. I don't think any like mortal mind can comprehend why a miracle happens.

[Emily Jones]

Andrew, Jack and Sasha have all shared this experience with the media and in various settings. Sasha has gone on to emphasize how important safety gear is. He knows that even the most experienced sports enthusiast can get into trouble if they let their guard down when it comes to safety. His hope is that this experience may very well save others lives. Both Andrew and Jack received commendation medals from the Coast Guard. But these two heroic men are also incredibly humble. Both men said far more than any medals, they're grateful for how this experience has changed the course of history for not only Sasha, but Sasha's family.

[Andrew Sherman or Jack Sherman]

I will tell you the most profound thing that came out of this entire thing for me was it was about a week later that we had Sasha and his family and his parents to our house and they came and it was really funny. Sasha brought some, some gifts with him, one of which was the castaway volleyball. So that sits in my house now. But his wife during that visit said, and I may, I can never get through this easily. She said, you know, that day you didn't just save Sasha, you saved our family. I'm just thankful that we, we were put in the right place at the right time, you know, and had the right skill set that we were able to do something.

[Emily Jones]

Oh man, can you imagine being out in the ocean without a life jacket and you know, when you're almost 40 miles away from shore and no one.

[Holly Worthington]

In sight, oh my gosh. I would be so scared.

[Emily Jones]

Terrifying.

[Holly Worthington]

I get scared in a lake thinking the fish is going to bite my toes.

[Emily Jones]

Me too.

[Holly Worthington]

I seriously like Jaws messed me up. I still am traumatized by that movie.

[Emily Jones]

And when you're in a lake, there's no shark. Think about in the ocean you're like, what is beneath me?

[Holly Worthington]

It would be so scary.

[Emily Jones]

Yeah. At that point, you are completely helpless.

[Holly Worthington]

Right. And he was in really good physical health. But still, I mean, you can't just swim 40 miles into shore against the current. Yeah.

[Emily Jones]

And in those two hours, he only had gone a mile. And if he would have kept swimming, everyone would have been gone for the day. There was no hope, really.

[Holly Worthington]

Yeah. He knew that, too. He knew that the boats were probably all gonna be heading in soon and that the chances of getting to them before they left were pretty slim.

[Emily Jones]

And if they had left, I mean.

[Holly Worthington]

Yeah, he was really smart. I do have to say. Like, when he was talking about getting those seaweeds that he could use to kind of help him feel like he had something to hold onto, I thought, what a smart thing to do. I don't know that my brain would have ever gone there.

[Andrew Sherman or Jack Sherman]

Yeah.

[Emily Jones]

Kind of reminded me of that show Alone, if you've seen Alone. And it's the survival show. How creative people get when they're in a survival situation.

[Holly Worthington]

Yeah.

[Emily Jones]

I thought I would never have thought of that. But who knows what you would think of when you're actually put out there.

[Holly Worthington]

True. One thing that was really important to him was to give a message about safety and to make sure you use your safety equipment.

[Emily Jones]

Yeah. And we have a sound bite that we want to play to honor his wishes of the message he wanted to get across.

[Sasha Scheller]

Yeah. The reason why I like to talk about it is to make people aware. I've got every accreditation behind me. I was a surfer, I was a lifeguard. I went Coast Guard. You know, I knew all the safety protocols and had every kind of safety equipment you can imagine. It was just one really stupid decision. If I would have had that life jacket on that took off, there was a whistle, that boat would have heard me with a whistle. I had a VHF radio. All the boats within 5 miles would have heard me on the VHF radio. Yeah. I mean, it would have been a 15 minute ordeal. So it's the big thing I really want people to understand when I share it is regardless of what you're doing, if it's snowboarding, if it's fishing in the ocean, if it's hiking in the mountains. Safety equipment is relatively inexpensive to the actual toys that you're using out there. So get it and use it. Don't just have it. So you can say you have it, but actually use it.

[Emily Jones]

I know he's gone around to several trainings and meetings and has presented about his experience.

[Holly Worthington]

Well. And he Very well could be saving lives by sharing that message. So we definitely want to help him spread that message.

[Emily Jones]

Yeah. You know, without that life jacket, the only way he could have survived in the vast ocean is through a miracle.

[Holly Worthington]

Yeah, I agree. And I just want to say, don't you think it's incredible how this father and son went so above and beyond?

[Emily Jones]

Oh, yeah. I think that there are lots of people who would just call in the Coast Guard, report it, and feel like, okay, I've done my duty well, and.

[Holly Worthington]

Who knows if the Coast Guard would have found him.

[Emily Jones]

Yeah. In that instance, minutes were so crucial.

[Holly Worthington]

And I thought it was so cool that when the Coast Guard said, roger that, thank you, and just hung up, that they were like, we're gonna go out and find this guy.

[Emily Jones]

Yeah. Wasn't it so cool to have the Coast Guard call? Yeah.

[Holly Worthington]

I feel like I'm eavesdropping listening to this call.

[Emily Jones]

You can hear the elation in Andrew's voice.

[Holly Worthington]

They were really smart the way they went about things, but I'm also sure that they were given divine guidance to find Sasha as well.

[Emily Jones]

Well, whether you attribute it to luck or you attribute it to divine intervention, I'm grateful Sasha's alive.

[Holly Worthington]

I am, too. And I'm sure his family is so grateful, I'm sure, to Andrew and Jack.

[Emily Jones]

Yeah, they're heroes.

[Holly Worthington]

They really are. Thank you for joining us. If you have a miracle to share, contact [e-mail] or find us on Facebook.

[Emily Jones]

We're now releasing multiple episodes episodes each month, so subscribe on your favorite podcast platform and YouTube for amazing video content as well.

[Holly Worthington]

Join us next time as we discover more of God's miracles. And don't forget to look for his light in your own lives.

[Sasha Scheller]

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[Andrew Sherman or Jack Sherman]

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[Sasha Scheller]

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[Andrew Sherman or Jack Sherman]

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