KINGSTON – A 25-year-old Bremerton man was taken to the hospital by paramedic unit after he swam to shore following an apparent boating mishap in Apple Tree Cove late Wednesday. 

North Kitsap Fire & Rescue crews were called to a private residence on Jefferson Point Road at 11 p.m. after the dripping wet and shivering man presented himself at the waterfront home and asked for help. The occupants summoned aid and covered him in blankets while awaiting emergency crews’ arrival, NKF&R spokeswoman Michele Laboda reported. 

The man told crews that the dinghy he’d been aboard had capsized.  In the dark of night, he told crews, he knew he wouldn’t be noticed if he tried to stay with the overturned rowboat so he made the decision to swim to shore.  He was not wearing a life jacket, Laboda reported.

Paramedics say that the man was suffering from potentially life-threatening hypothermia due to prolonged exposure to cold. 

Deputies from the Kitsap County Sheriff’s Office also went to the scene.