Huron County View

Kayaking couple causes a stir after one falls in water, gets rescued, then goes back out




PORT AUSTIN – The sheriff’s office was scrambling its airboat and the coast guard its helicopter on Monday – all in preparation to search for a couple that had ostensibly gone missing after leaving the harbor in kayaks.

Sheriff Kelly Hanson told the VIEW his department was contacted shortly after 9 p.m. on Monday, citing two kayakers who might be in trouble in Port Austin. Earlier that day, a Port Austin resident witnessed a couple kayaking at the southeast corner of the harbor. One of the kayakers, Hanson said, had fallen in the water.

The resident who saw them helped them to reach the shore, brought them inside and dried them off. It was discovered the couple was in their twenties and from Sterling Heights, Hanson said.

At around 8:30 p.m., the same couple was seen again kayaking about a mile northwest of the Port Austin break wall. Hanson said it was believed the couple wasn’t experienced in kayaking and didn’t have the proper equipment to do so, including no life jackets. The couple’s plan, apparently, was to kayak to a camping sport near Turnip Rock.

“The wind was blowing from the southeast,” Hanson said. “It would have been easy for them to have been overtaken.”

The sheriff’s department sent its airboat from Caseville to Port Austin, preparing to begin a search. The department also started arranging for its patrol boat to be sent from Bad Axe. Hanson also contacted the coast guard, which began arranging for a helicopter to be deployed.

Later, a phone number for one of the kayakers was obtained, and it was discovered the couple was camping up the shoreline near Port Austin and Pointe aux Barques.

“I called to talk to them,” Hanson said of the couple. “I certainly questioned their decision to kayak, especially knowing there would be inclement weather. And I questioned why they would be camping out there.”

Hanson said he was last involved in the situation at around 11 p.m. Monday. He was told officers from the Port Austin Police Department would be walking to where they said they were camping, and the couple were likely told they had to leave.

“The resident didn’t believe they had proper equipment,” Hanson said. “Whatever the case was, the couple told me they were experienced at kayaking, had proper shelter and apparel for the trip. They were apologetic about all of the attention that had been given to them, but they refused further assistance.”

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