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"I had just put the rods in the water," the Long Branch dad tells Daily Voice. "A couple hundred feet away, I see guys screaming on a boat, and waving."
The back of their boat was going under — fast (scroll for video).
Cabasso was on his family's vessel, Gemini with eight other relatives in Sea Girt Reef. He yelled to his captain, Chris Davidson: "We gotta save them."
And so, the Gemini — which was about three miles from the Manasquan Inlet — made its way over to the four boaters, and hoisted them onto their own. In the meantime, they called for the Coast Guard.
If Cabasso, the president of Mario Badescu — a major skin care company — had been just a few yards further away, he may not have heard their cries. And at least one of the victims, he says, may not have made it.
The rescue was captured in a video shot on board the Gemini. It shows Cabasso and his family pulling the tired survivors to safety, as the bow of their 23-foot fishing boat points upward, several feet above the ocean.
Apparently, the victims' boat was taking on water faster than it could be pumped out. It happened so fast that by the time the victims went to the cabin to get life jackets, it was completely flooded.
And so, they were stranded. But fortunate that Cabasso and his crew were nearby.
"They got on the boat, they were so grateful," recalled Cabasso, who goes fishing three or four times a week, but has never encountered anything like this.
"They were saying, Oh my God, I almost died.' They were so emotional and grateful."
The victims were handed over to New Jersey State Police.
Cabasso says the story of the Florida football players who drowned in a 2009 boating accident has never left him, and serves as a reminder to put safety first on the water.
"Your life is very valuable. There’s no dollar amount on it," he said. "So, spend the money on a life boat. A life vest. EPIRB."
An EBIRP, or an Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon, is a battery-powered device that sends a signal out to the Coast Guard once a boat is submerged. It's about $200, Cabasso says, but worth every penny.
A life boat, a life vest, or an EBIRP could total $1,000, "but your life could be saved," Cabasso said. "That's what people should learn."
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