The star of the TLC network’s “Cake Boss” says that from now on he’ll check the weather before heading out with a boatload of children.
Reality TV star Buddy Valastro and his family were rescued Friday when their 36-foot Boston Whaler got lost in thick fog and became stranded.
There were nine children between the ages of 5 and 12 on the boat when it became enveloped in fog.
“The fog rolled in like a wave,” firefighter Chris Tucker, a member of the New York Fire Department’s Summer Boat Program, told the New York Daily News.
The department was called in to find Valastro’s boat, using a high-tech rescue boat equipped with cameras that can detect heat signatures.
“One minute it’s sunny and the next you’re not able to see what’s in front of your boat,” Tucker said. “Even an experienced boater will tell you that isn’t something you want to find yourself in.”
Valastro, 37, found navigation nearly impossible as his boat drifted into Ambrose Channel near the Verrazano Narrows Bridge — where massive commercial vessels pass with regularity. The boat could have been hit by a cargo ship entering the channel, Tucker said.
“Next time we go out at night need to check the forecast #mywifewantstokillme,” Valastro posted on Twitter.
Tucker and firefighter Paul Patras were able to locate the boat, using their boat’s Forward Looking Infra Red, or FLIR system and tow it out of the shipping lane.
The firefighters then met a New York Police Department boat, which towed the wayward Whaler back to its berth in Jersey City, N.J.
