Florida surfer's dramatic rescue of boater from capsized vessel captured on drone video

— -- When a vessel capsized off the coast of Florida, tossing a boater into the rough waters, a quick-thinking surfer came to his rescue and paddled the man to safety as a drone captured the scene on video.

Sam Ruskin, 13, was surfing at Jupiter Beach Park Friday when he first heard the boater's calls for help from a distance.

"At first, we just saw all the boxes from the boat in the middle of the sea and we were kind of like, 'What's going on?'" the teenager told ABC Tampa affiliate WFTS-TV.

Kevin Cadby, a videographer and boating enthusiast, told ABC News he regularly brings his camera-mounted drone to capture boat traffic and surf when the waves are large.

The boater seen in the video wearing a red jacket had no life preserver and struggled to stay afloat in the strong currents as Sam paddled out to him near a rocky jetty.

"There was this guy, and he was coming around the Inlet. I paddled to the end of the Inlet where the current is and I gave him my surfboard," Sam said. "I was swimming next to him, and I was really struggling to get out of that area. You can get sucked into the jetty.”

Sam’s father, Ryan Ruskin, said his son did not hesitate to do the right thing.

"It just speaks about his character,” Ruskin told WFTS. “He didn't even blink an eye and just went right over there, jumped off his board, handed it to a grown man, saved his life, came back and said, 'Hey, what's for dinner Dad?'"

The unidentified boater thanked him and got off the board, Sam said.

He went back to surfing.