OT: A friendly reminder about our Great Lakes
Our lakes are beautiful but Mother Nature is unforgiving.
In South Haven this week enjoying a last hurrah, and I was wandering down the beach when I saw that a young woman had just been pulled out of the water. She was unresponsive and someone started administering CPR. I was standing nearby and a man started gesturing toward the water. I thought he might be pointing out where the woman had gone under, but then the man went in the water with a buddy and started dragging a young man out of the water. Me and one other fella nearby grabbed the young man's legs to get him out of the water and onto the sand. Some good samaritan who knew CPR started administering it to him. As we set him down, the young man's brother recognized who it was and started freaking out. Police and paramedics came eventually to take them away. Not sure if the two made it or not.
Seeing the ghost white face and pale blue lips and vomit coming from that young man's mouth during CPR was absolutely chilling. My wife had our kids nearby and I have been shaken up all day by this. The sound of that kid's mom wailing is something I won't easily forget.
Be incredibly careful with the water. Watch your kids. Make sure they have a life vest on unless they're grown. If you're an adult and it's really wavy, try to have at least one or two people swimming with you. If you're an adult and not a good swimmer, no shame in wearing a life jacket. This was in water where you could stand up and it still happened.
Our lakes are beautiful but they can be incredibly dangerous. Be safe.
I live in (waaaay) upstae NY. There is a report of a drowning about once a week here this year since July 1.
Update to OP's post: looks like they at least made it alive to hospital.
Edit: both have died - very tragic
Yeah they were taken there but I’m not sure they were alive when taken. I hope so. It was weird cause it seemed like they took the boy before the girl even though the girl got pulled out a few minutes before the boy.
Sadly, it appears both have died. The young man was apparently from Novi.
https://www.woodtv.com/news/van-buren-county/pd-water-rescue-underway-in-south-haven/
So sad - article said they were hospitalized, which I assumed meant they were alive.
Rip currents are no joke.
A 23 year-old woman I knew from my church died around 1985 drown in the undertow of Lake Michigan. She was a lifeguard and former highschool varsity swimmer.
If you're in one, relax, and swim parallel to shore to escape it. Most people get in trouble because they freak out being dragged out and tire themselves out fighting against the current.
August 9th, 2022 at 11:58 AM ^
I had a really scary incident when I was a kid on Lake Michigan. Not sure how close I really was to dying but it definitely felt like a dodged a bullet. RIP to these victims.
Not just Great Lakes.
There is an ongoing story of a boy from Bedford (Temperance, Michigan) Andy.
Young boy with his whole life ahead of him was drowning at a local KOA camp.
He's largely unresponsive, but his parents still hold out hope.
With 6 kids of my own, I cry just about every time I read the updates from his parents.
Those lakes are small oceans and nothing to mess with. I live near Lake St. Clair and the Detroit River. It's not uncommon for someone to go 1 foot too far and it turn into disaster.
Very good advice you've provided regarding life vests and such.
Have fun and stay safe out there.
I hope they made it. I grew up in Grand Haven and love Lake Michigan.
It's great to body surf in the waves, but you must be respectful of the power of rip currents and know how to get out by swimming parallel to the shore.
Sadly, a young man drowned yesterday in Lake Michigan at Grand Haven State Park.
Please be careful everyone.
I live in Kalamazoo and seems like channel 3 has reported a drowning after every hot day or weekend this summer. I don’t think some people realize the Great Lakes need to be treated like small oceans. Stay safe out there everyone.
I would be what many people might consider a solid open water swimmer. From as early in May, sometimes June, until as late in October as I can tolerate the water I try to swim a mile at a time, 3 to 5 times a week in Lake Michigan. A few years back somebody got me an orange safety belt that trails a small buoy behind it. You hardly can tell it’s on when you’re swimming.
as far as I get out in the lake sometimes, it serves two purposes. One of course is it makes my visibility in the water greater in case a boat is coming by, so hopefully it won’t cut me in half. Secondly, even as a swimmer who is comfortable in the water, does races, etc., it’s good to know that if I get in trouble that buoy can float me if I’m able to simply put my arms around it and I could exist for quite some time until help would arrive. I highly recommend it for you open water swimmers.
About 20 years ago my wife, daughter and I were on vacation out in Colorado and Utah. We had visited Dinosaur National Monument, and afterward we'd driven a bit out of the park on the Utah side. It was very hot, and we happened upon a stretch of the placid-looking Green River that was easily accessible to the road we were on. I was content to simply wade around in the shallows when a couple of guys in their 20s with their girlfriends arrived. The guys—both of whom were considerably bigger than I am—dove into the water and quickly made their way straight across the river, seemingly in ease. Being an idiot, I thought, "Boy that looks easy I'm sure I can do that too."
I am NOT what anybody would consider to be a solid swimmer in any body of water, but I was completely deceived by the apparent placidity of the current. I discovered immediately how much more difficult swimming against a current is than swimming in a pool, and found myself getting inexorably dragged downriver by the current. I got about halfway across and finally realized I was in deep shit, and reversed course. I made it back to a spot a good distance away from where I'd jumped in, and I was so exhausted that I had to crawl out of the water on my hands and knees.
My wife and daughter were watching from the river bank, and for a few minutes were terrified they were going to see me drown right in front of their eyes. Wife gave me tremendous amounts of entirely justifiable grief for being a goddamned idiot. I learned my lesson—don't do stupid things in large bodies of water if you're not a strong swimmer.
1. Glad you made it
2. Skeletons will have a very hard time swimming
3. Fished the green years ago with my homicide investigator and my then fiancé, my now wife, and we had a gas. Tons of fun and tons of fish.
years ago with my homicide investigator
Not to derail but uh... condolences on your homicide?
i recovered....
kidding aside, he was a great guy and i could spin yarns about him for a while. it was my pleasure to teach him how to fly fish on that trip.
Glad you beat the rap - my favorite part of police procedurals is when the obvious killer and the cop are locked in some sort of competition that belies the predator/prey nature of the story.
In Oregon, on a day off from fighting forest fires, I went to a small mountain body of water—larger than a pond, smaller than a lake—with a waterfall and a cave-like space behind it.
Because it was mountain water, it was very cold and I knew swimming the 20-30 feet might be a bad idea, so I got a trunk and, to keep it from rolling, a smaller stick next to it, like an outrigger, and hand-paddled to the space behind the waterfall.
As I waited to go back, the smaller stick floated away. Okay, I thought, I'll just balance to stay upright on this round log.
Nope, it immediately turned, I fell in, and either the cold or panic made me freeze. I was sure I would never get back those few feet to the shore.
I got back to land somehow though I don't remember how I did it, other than a vague memory of splashing.
Scary.
There's nothing quite like being in a body of water bigger than a swimming pool and being distinctly aware of the fact that you might drown very soon.
August 8th, 2022 at 11:02 PM ^
I only felt that once in my life when I was trying get my 90 lb golden retriever back in a pontoon boat in a deep lake. Amazing how fast it happens in a random moment.
I had that feeling when I was 15, and Dad took me and my younger brother to Daytona Beach. Teenage me was fascinated by a sand bar about 50+ yards offshore. I was a pretty good swimmer, so once I got to it, it was weirdly cool to stand so far offshore in water that was below your knees.
Unfortunately, I didn't understand about tides. So when I swam out again in the late afternoon, my friendly neighborhood sand bar wasn't there anymore. So instead of having the chance to rest on it, I had to immediately reverse course. It took all my strength to swim back. The waves helped push me to shore, but also gave me an unwanted mouthful of seawater. I made it, gassed and coughing, and with a newly-found respect for large bodies of water.
For the reasons you cited, family members and acquaintances of mine in the Traverse City area always use buoys when swimming in Lake Michigan. (I would, too, but swimming of any kind will need to wait until I finish "working through something" with my shoulder.)
Deep and touching post, ypsituckyboy. Thanks for sharing.
Thank you XM. I am going to buy a bouy now. I am also a well above average swimmer. While I mostly swim in calm bays, or Alpine lakes, I sometimes get a little water in the wrong pipe or start to get dizzy in the cold temperatures (especially as I try to keep swimming medium distance into the early winter months with some neoprene). As I age, this could be a lifesaver.
i'm a little better insulated, kind of like a small-ish (maize and) blue whale so no wet suit or dizziness for me. my cut off on water temps is right about 55-56 degrees. at temps below that my head and neck will hurt for 100+ yds and it turns into endurance instead of pleasant exercise.
August 8th, 2022 at 10:02 PM ^
With your being a strong swimmer and having a tolerance for cold water you could've escaped Alcatraz.
August 8th, 2022 at 10:39 PM ^
that was what i was training for. figured it was only a matter of time until i got locked up....
Hence your friend was your homicide investigator.
Bought it last month to swim in East Grand Traverse Bay. Whole family got covid...no swimming for Scanner. Use it down here in Pickerel Lake (no undertow or waves) and my daughter appreciates it.
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I sure do miss splashing around in pickerel lake! Living 2,000 miles away in PDX, that little pond is one of the things I miss the most in southeast Michigan.
August 8th, 2022 at 11:33 PM ^
Ditto...
I have a vest for open water swimming now.
Once in Guam I got pulled out to sea so quickly there was none of this "swim parallel to shore" stuff. Took me an hour and 45 minutes to get to safety. I should have died.
With the vest, all I have to do is roll over on my back and blow into a tube to inflate it.
August 9th, 2022 at 12:18 AM ^
Glad you’re here and (presumably) safe.
I think back on my childhood at Touhy (Chicago Lake Michigan) beach and the torment brought on the Lifeguards with too many kids in too much water not caring to listen.
I live in Muskegon. Have lived here most of my life. People that haven't grown up swimming in the Great Lakes, especially the eastern shore of Lake Michigan, have no idea how dangerous it can be. You have to respect it.
There was another drowning in Grand Haven yesterday. I believe that makes 24 (or 25?) drownings in Lake Michigan so far this year. Most of these have come on the eastern shore. It was a red flag day yesterday. He had no business being in the water.
A red flag day again today, I believe.
I was in Lake Michigan in the Ludington area twice last week on green flag days, the water was as calm and nearly as warm as bath water, but the bottom line is that the big lakes command our respect always.
Please ---never swim alone but also never put someone else in danger by your own carelessness.
I grew up in Muskegon (well... Norton Shores) and swam in Lake Michigan from a very young age, and often in some reasonably wavy conditions.
It's dangerous when you know what you're doing.
If you don't have experience with Great Lakes or ocean rip currents, stay out of the water when the waves get up.
I love wearing a life jacket when just floating around in a lake or river - you don't need to constantly work to stay afloat. You can actually enjoy interacting with others and having fun, rather than getting exhausted.
Wear the damn thing - nobody cares about it if you walk out of the water under your own power. But everyone - EVERYONE - will be wondering why you were so dumb to not be wearing one.
This. I just bought a boat for the first time and took the State of Michigan boating safety course. WEAR A LIFE JACKET WHEN OUT ON A BODY OF WATER. Weird things happen and take nothing for granted. Lake Michigan is the most dangerous of the Great Lakes. But tragedies can happen on even placid smaller lakes. Please be safe on the water!
This is a great post. Michigan is most fortunate to have all of these beautiful lakes. Some people (especially kids) think they're invincible inviting tragedy. Swimmer education is key.
One of my best friends drowned in a rip current in Grand Haven in high school (I believe it was the summer of 1990). Went out on a red flag. Serious stuff.
Good reminder. I can barely swim and wouldn't stand a chance against a Great Lake. Thus I try to stay inland as much as possible.
The great lakes are more dangerous than the oceans.
Ill never forget when I was a Kid playing Little League our Field was located right next to a Lake...Up North..We heard a bone chilling Scream as a small child wandered to the shore and slipped in the water and drowned..The Screaming of the Mother was blood curling and to this day 50 some years later I still can remember that day and those screams.I learned early on water can be your enemy and have ALWAYS respected it since.
I grew up on Lake Michigan. She almost took me a number of times and would have if not for family, friends and strangers. I spent each summer of my entire childhood in those waters, a healthy respect and a buddy (or two) are always a good idea. Still never had anything like the waves on Oahu's North Shore. I know they're not the end-all be all but they could wreck me when I was in the best shape of my life. Stay safe y'all.
"Be incredibly careful with the water."
To which I would add, please never, ever dive headfirst into a wave. Even if you're just trying to dive under one, don't actually dive. Just go straight down. Some of you may remember what happened to Tim Strachan back in the early 90s. For those who don't, he was a star QB in high school (fairly certain Michigan recruited him). He was heading into the water on a beach day, dove into a wave and became a quadriplegic.
One of my brothers in law lost his kid brother to drowning. Learn to swim people. Take a class and get in the water. Maybe do it with your kids so you know their limits if you don't already.
Although that is good advice, especially growing up in Michigan, that isn't always the answer. I highly advise any and everyone to take some level of swimming lessons, however the strongest swimmer in the world will lose a battle with a rip current. Someone I went to school with, served in the navy and then also was a lifeguard after getting out, drown in Holland from being taken out from waste level waters. You also need to be intelligent about what mother nature can do and respect that you'll never be stronger.
August 9th, 2022 at 10:24 AM ^
I'm not advising people swim in a rip current, but they should also know what to do if they get caught in one.
The kid who died was a fairly straight forward drowning. Family wasn't paying attention and he drowned in a small lake in Florida. You don't need dangerous water conditions for tragedy to strike is my point.
August 9th, 2022 at 12:55 PM ^
Depictions of drowning on TV or movies usually involve a lot of splashing and yelling, when in reality it is often a desperate, silent death. Even in a swimming pool a person can die very quickly with others all around them.