74-year-old man saves grandson when kayak flips, but needed rescuing himself

SEQUIM, Wash. (AP) — A 74-year-old man who was kayaking with his 6-year-old grandson was able to save the boy when they fell into the cold waters of Dungeness Bay but had to get rescued himself.

The Peninsula Daily News reports that Elden Ross had taken the boy in his one-person kayak on Saturday. But when the kayak flipped and threw both of them into the water, Ross turned up right, but it was partially filled with water.

Ross got the boy inside but he couldn't get back in himself.

Ross tried to swim the kayak back to shore, but the pair became separated.

When the boy's mother got home, she got into another kayak and reached her son, but her father was not in sight.

The Coast Guard and Clallam County Sheriff's Office located Ross using GPS and a helicopter. He was hospitalized with hypothermia. The boy wasn't injured.

According to the Daily News, the water is 53-degrees in Dungeness Bay. Ross was credited with helping save his grandson's life -- as well as his own -- by making the right decisions along the way.