One man was rescued and another drowned Monday after the kayak they had taken out into the winds and waves of Lake Michigan overturned in rough seas off the Schoolcraft County mainland.
At about 3:30 p.m. Monday, regional dispatchers received a call from a man who said his son and a friend had taken a kayak out into Lake Michigan off South Barques Point Trail, which is located south of Manistique.
The names of those involved were not released.
The man, who was calling from a vacation rental property they were staying at, said the kayak had overturned. Strong wind prevented his son and his friend from returning to shore.
He told dispatchers he could see the men bobbing in the water next to the kayak.
Neither man had a life jacket. The water temperature was about 50 degrees.
Michigan Department of Natural Resources Conservation Officer Mike Evink, Michigan State Police troopers from the Manistique detachment, Manistique Public Safety EMS, the Schoolcraft County Sheriff’s Office and a Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians tribal officer responded to the scene.
When state police and EMS personnel arrived, they could see the two men in the water a few hundred yards offshore.
Evink launched his department-issued Jet Ski from the beach at the caller’s location. With help from EMS personnel, Evink was able to locate one of the kayakers in the water.
He secured the tired and cold man to the watercraft and returned him to waiting EMS workers. He was taken to Schoolcraft Memorial Hospital in Manistique. The kayaker, from Oxford, Michigan, was showing signs of shock and hypothermia.
Evink then began to search for the second kayaker, who was the caller’s son. He soon found the man
