Missing jet skier found safe and sound at Jersey Shore

STONE HARBOR, N.J. (WPVI) -- A 68-year-old man was reunited with his family Wednesday morning after he spent the night stranded on the water in Stone Harbor.

Thomas Graham went out for one last ride on his Wave Runner Tuesday when the battery died.

Strong winds set him adrift, and he couldn't walk to shore because he was surrounded by thick, black mud.

So he sat on his Wave Runner for the entire night until a helicopter found him this morning.

"You think about a lot of things, and you just try to pace yourself," he told Action News. "I didn't want to get myself upset or anything. I just kind of gaged it and tried to understand what was going on."

"I really thought he was a goner," said his wife, Elaina Graham. "I didn't think I'd see him again. So to me this is a miracle - a blessing and a miracle."

Graham said he did start to doze off at one point and was worried he would fall off the Wave Runner.

But he said he never stopped believing authorities would resume their search in the morning.

It was Tuesday afternoon when a US Coast Guard helicopter and rescue boats began searching the back bays between Stone Harbor and Wildwood for Graham.

Middle Township police responded to the 1100 block of Stone Harbor Boulevard for a report of a missing person.

He was first reported missing after 2:30 p.m. Tuesday.