Tormay, Whitbeck Honored With 2025 Lifesaving Award

Two Nantucket anglers were honored Thursday evening by the Egan Maritime Institute and Nantucket Cottage Hospital with the annual Nantucket Lifesaving Award for their dramatic rescue of a man whose boat had capsized off Chatham in October 2024.

Joe Tormay and Nick Whitbeck had been bass fishing northeast of the island that month when something caught their eye in the distance.

“I started casting, and I said, ‘Nick, do you see that? It looks like a dead whale’,” Tormay told the Current last year. “I looked closer and said, ‘No, that’s a flipped boat, and there’s a guy waving to us on top’!”

At that point, it was around 4 p.m. They were a few miles east of Monomoy Island and about a quarter mile away from the capsized boat. The pair said they headed toward the vessel and called the Coast Guard to report what they had seen. As they approached the capsized boat, Tormay, a former member of the U.S. Coast Guard himself, saw a man in his 70s still waving to them.

“It was the worst-case scenario,” Tormay said. “He was by himself with no life jacket on. He was lucky he got on the top of the boat.”

It was just hours until sunset, and the water temperature was around 55 degrees. Whitbeck was able to get the man a life jacket while Tormay maneuvered his 23-foot center console to get him on board.

“Once we got close, it was a shock to realize what we thought was true,” Whitbeck said. “So scary to be that far offshore and no one immediately nearby this time of the year. We pulled up close to him and were able to communicate with him and get confirmation he was ok and not in immediate danger.”

Tonight, Tormay and Whitbeck were recognized for their efforts with the 2025 Lifesaving Award presented by Egan Maritime and the hospital. The award is presented annually to a citizen who rescues — or endeavors to rescue — another person from drowning, shipwreck, or other water-related dangers.