Disaster was averted on Lake Simcoe earlier this week when quick thinking by police marine officers corralled a runaway boat after its lone occupant was thrown overboard.

The unmanned boat was left spinning in tight circles Wednesday afternoon when its owner, Alan Steinberg, was tossed from the boat about one kilometre from the shore.

"I was motoring along and got distracted for just a moment when the steering wheel of my boat went that way and I went flying through the air that way," Steinberg told CTV Toronto on Thursday.

"I was nowhere near land, I wasn't wearing my safety vest and I was in the water."

As Steinberg treaded water, his unmanned boat was left driving in circles at 70 km/h. Police would later say that Steinberg was lucky. Boaters are commonly struck by the vehicle after being thrown overboard.

Unsure what to do, Steinberg said he distanced himself from the uncontrolled boat and waited for help. Finally another boat came by, spotted him in the water and took him to shore.

"I would have been cooked. I could see myself going to the bottom. It was only a matter of time," Steinberg said.

Police were called and, once they arrived, went about corralling the runaway boat. Const. David Flood said it was driving in "tight circles," but could have bucked at any time.

"Our concern immediately is that if the boat changed its course it would become a missile at 70 kilometres an hour in any direction it chose," said Const. David Flood. "We had to stop the boat in its spin before it changed its course."

Response crews first tried to lasso the boat's propellers as if it were a bucking bronco. When that failed, they were forced maneuvered their boat in line with the target, risking their own safety in the boat's turbulent wake to get as close as they could.

Leaning over the side of the rescue boat, Flood managed to knock the errant boat's kill-switch and disable the motor. He said it was a lesson in water safety; had the driver been wearing a life preserver with an attached kill-switch, the boat would have shut down when he fell overboard.

"Yesterday when there was no wind, no ripple on the water. Very safe? Not really. It all happens in the blink of an eye," Flood said.

Steinberg, a veteran boater, bought a new life preserver on Thursday and says he will wear it whenever he is out on the water.

"I have always been a guy who really didn't take the precautions that you need to," he said. "The cowboy attitude has got to go."

With a report from CTV Toronto's Tamara Cherry