A missing 17-year-old kayaker was found alive late Sunday night.
Multiple agencies, including the U.S. Coast Guard, had been searching Fred Howard Park in Tarpon Springs since around 7 p.m.
According to Tarpon Springs Deputy Fire Chief Scott Young, a Coast Guard helicopter spotted the missing teen, Karlin O’Neill, off the coast around 10:15 p.m.
"She's in good condition as far as we can tell, so we're just relieved that we found her," Young said. "She was in the kayak waving her arms when the Coast Guard helicopter saw an object, so she was alert enough to be waving."
Young said the teen and her mother were kayaking toward Anclote Key but somehow became separated. The mother made it to the destination, but her daughter didn't.
That's when authorities were alerted.
O’Neill said she was kayaking behind her family when a boat sped by her.
"There was a wake from a boat and the way the wave hit me, I went right off the wake and it hit me perfectly that I almost tipped my kayak,” O’Neill said. “I saved the kayak, but I lost the paddle."
Without her paddle, O’Neill drifted farther towards the Gulf for eight hours. She said she tried to use her flip flops as paddles, but it didn’t work.
“Once night came I got scared because I didn’t think they would be able to find me,” O’Neill said.
When it got cold, O’Neill used the two lifejackets she had on the kayak; she wore one while she wrapped the other around her legs. She said she remained optimistic someone would find her.
"Finding someone in the water is like finding a needle in a haystack,” Petty Officer Jake Garbrecht said. Garbrecht was the rescue swimmer inside the Coast Guard helicopter that searched for O’Neill.
The rescue team used night vision goggles and thermal cameras to search for O’Neill in the dark. They spotted her about four miles off the coast of Tarpon Springs.
“At first it didn’t look like she knew we were there, not sure if it was because she was hypothermic at the time or not, but as we got closer she started waving her arms frantically and it was obvious she was in distress,” Garbrecht said.
“I didn’t think they would be able to see me, but their lights shone on me barely, so that’s when I really started waving my arms hoping they would notice,” O’Neill said.
Minutes later a rescue boat pulled O’Neill to safety.
"The survivor did everything right. She stayed with the kayak, she had her life jacket on,” Lt. Frank Cheske said. “She luckily had water on board and didn’t attempt to swim to shore."
"I think what helped me the most is that I stayed calm,” O’Neill said. “I knew someone eventually would find me."