Joys and perils of open water

One tragedy, two near misses in one July week remind boaters to beware

By Jacob Wheeler

Sun editor

Six days in July, three emergencies on lakes near the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, two cases of people not wearing life vests, and one death. These stories yield cautionary tales about enjoying but respecting these waters which are beautiful but can prove perilous, too.

On the afternoon of Monday, July 10, Sarah Thompson, her sons, Luke Vella, age 20, and Gordon Thompson, age 11, joined other family members for a float on innertubes down the Platte River in the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore—a common tradition for many tourists and local residents during the height of summer. Sarah, who lives downstate in Chelsea, Michigan, was visiting her mother, who lives in Benzonia, and her grandmother, who lives in Empire, for a family reunion.

As they typically do, the boys paddled ahead of the group. Luke rode an inflatable raft with oars, which was tied to an innertube that carried Gordon. Sarah figured they would wander and play on the dunes where the Platte empties into Lake Michigan. Their plan was to meet later on the beach.

Instead, Luke and Gordon stayed on their rafts and floated into the big lake. Strong currents and a wind coming from the south quickly pulled them out toward blue, cold, choppy water. No matter how hard he rowed, the current wouldn’t let them back toward shore, Luke later told his mother. In the innertube with his legs dangling into the water, Gordon felt his toes growing cold. Luke pulled the younger boy into the raft. Neither of them wore life vests.

“Me and my brother thought it would be fun to float out,” said Gordon. “We weren’t keeping track of how far out we were. We tried to get back but couldn’t. The wind blew us out even further.”

Recognizing their perilous situation, the boys suddenly remembered that they were carrying Sarah’s cell phone with them. They were too far offshore to call family members, so they dialed 911 but struggled to communicate with the dispatcher over the wind and waves.

Coast Guardsmen Brandon Johnson and Jose Soto were on their routine patrol on Betsie Lake, between Frankfort and Elberta, when they received a call just before 3:45 p.m. from the mother Coast Guard station in Manistee that two young people were floating into open water at Platte Point and needed help. Johnson, a native of Houma, Louisiana, is attached to the Manistee station and has lived for nearly a year and a half in northern Michigan; Soto, a reservist based out of San Diego, works as a police officer in Los Angeles but volunteered for the Coast Guard and was placed in Frankfort until September. “Then back to the madness,” he chuckled.

The southerly wind was picking up, and the waves were 6–7 feet high once they reached Platte Point 30 minutes after the initial call. Along the way, they received more information that the boys were riding colorful inflatable rafts and neither of them had life preservers.

One nautical mile offshore, on their starboard side, Johnson and Soto saw the bright orange and yellow raft which was barely large enough to carry both boys. Still tied to it and bouncing in the waves was the white, green and black innertube. Luke and Gordon, who initially thought the Coast Guard vessel was a fishing boat, waved their yellow paddles in the air. “We were scared, but hopeful once we saw the boat,” said the 11-year-old.

“I would say they realized once they got on board (our boat) how much danger they were in,” said Johnson. “They were exhausted from paddling.” The Coast Guardsmen made sure Luke and Gordon had no hypothermia or medical concerns. Then they called Sarah, who was wandering the beach near the Platte River, frantically looking for her boys. She hadn’t realized that they had drifted into open Lake Michigan. She was told to meet them at the Coast Guard station in Frankfort.

Moving into the wind, their trip took nearly an hour. At ease, the boys posed for photos with their saviors, offering thumbs up signs. “They were extremely relieved, with smiles on their faces,” said Soto.

Sarah arrived in Frankfort first and waited for at least 20 minutes, though it felt like hours. When the boat arrived, Gordon ran to her, “bawling his eyes out,” she said. “He doesn’t usually cry. But I was crying, too.”

“I love you. I’m so glad you’re back,” she sobbed. The boys’ mother hugged each of the Coast Guardsmen and told them how grateful she was for them doing their jobs. They remained at the station for less than half an hour to fill out paperwork and retrieve the raft and innertube, which Sarah kept. Luke was given a ticket and fine of $180 for, she said, “putting them in a precarious situation.”

Reflecting two weeks later on their near fatal experience, Gordon said that floating into Lake Michigan was his idea. But he regretted that they did so with only two cheap and flimsy paddles, no motor, no warmer clothes, and no life vests. Undeterred, he added, “We do plan on river rafting the Platte again.”

“Thank you very much to the Coast Guard men who saved us. I’ve never been happier to see someone.”

Many things should have been done differently, said Sarah, who added that her group didn’t wear life vests while on the river, which is relatively shallow as it nears Lake Michigan. She said she wished that signs had been placed at the mouth of the river saying, “this could be really dangerous if you go any further.”

Coast Guardsmen Brandon Johnson was more direct. “Always remember to wear a life jacket when you’re in the water,” he said. “Keep in mind that weather conditions can change really quickly. Don’t underestimate that things can get dangerous in the blink of an eye.”

 

Death on South Bar Lake

On Friday, July 14, at around 2:15 p.m., the body of a 33-year-old Indiana man was recovered from South Bar Lake in Empire by the Northern Michigan Mutual Aid Dive Team after he disappeared while riding a motorized wakeboard. The man was not wearing a life vest.

 

Survivors of Glen Lake boat fire wore life vests

Soon after Jason and Jennifer Mott Paupore, their children and dog embarked in their 2006 Galaxie Deck boat on Saturday, July 15—a quarter mile from their house on Big Glen Lake—for an early evening of tubing, they accelerated and heard a sudden bang and a pop from the boat’s engine.

The boat had been running fine since they began using it in early June. Jason estimated they had been out 5–10 times. He had just refueled it. Jason saw smoke and flames coming out of the engine. He used the fire extinguisher to attempt to put out the fire, but it didn’t help.

“We couldn’t stop the fire, so we hopped in the lake and let the boat burn,” Jason said the following morning.

Their youngest two children, ages 12 and 9, were already riding in the innertube a safe distance of 40-50 feet behind the boat, and wearing life preservers. Their 15-year-old daughter in the boat was already wearing her life vest when the fire started. Jason and Jennifer quickly put theirs on before leaving the burning craft and hopping into water that was over their heads.

But their labrador named Pepper stayed in the boat, even though she is an adept swimmer and spends the entire summer in Glen Lake, said Jason, a 49-year-old attorney whose family lives primarily in Florida but has owned a second home on Big Glen since 2019.

“She didn’t follow us. We were calling to her. But for whatever reason she froze. She was in danger as the flames were growing.”

Conor McCahill, owner of On the Narrows Marina, happened to be boating with his family near the Paupores. Within minutes, he pulled up to the burning vessel, hopped on board and took Pepper onto his own boat, “like a hero running into a burning building,” said Jason.

Jason, Jennifer, and their three children, all wearing life vests and floating in deep water, were quickly picked up by other boaters and jet skiers who all saw, and smelled, the unwelcome spectacle of a vessel in flames on the lake.

“There were no shortage of boaters coming by to see what happened, perhaps 10–15 boats,” said Jason. “Our boat was well on fire. I was concerned about the potential of an explosion.”

Also within minutes, the Glen Lake Fire Department and Leelanau County Sheriff’s Department were alerted and dispatched to the scene. The authorities ultimately extinguished the fire and towed the burning boat back to shore. Its entire hull was charred.

Jason remembers that his family ended up on multiple boats, including one piloted by employees from On the Narrows Marina, who offered them water and food, and a treat for Pepper, once they returned to shore.

“Fortunately, we never really felt like we were in danger,” said Jason. “A huge ‘thank you’ to the Glen Lake Fire Department, the sheriff’s office, the McCahills both for their work on the water and their hospitality when they got us back to shore, and to everybody on Glen Lake who came by and offered to help!

“The way it happened is just a reminder to everyone to make sure you have all your life vests and fire extinguisher ready.”