Michigan Exposures: A Search and Rescue

As I said in an earlier post, it was very windy yesterday. This made for about 3 to 5 foot waves. I could see the boaters having trouble leaving the channel. In fact, I think I saw a few turn around as they left the channel and hit the lake. The State Park had a "No Swimming" flag up. Not that people pay attention to things like that.

As I was waiting for the subject of the next post, this guy came roaring by with sirens blazing at around 7:00 P.M.

I see these boats speed by all the time but I never hear the sirens blaring, so I assumed that there was something going on.

At any rate, these make for cool pictures.

About 15 minutes later, the Sheriff's boat came racing by. At that point, I knew there had to be something up. It turns out that there was a capsized kayak and two kayakers in the water. I'm entirely sure on the circumstances but apparently one kayak capsized and the other tried to help him and he capsized. One of the two made it safely and the other needed rescuing.

About an hour later, I heard the distinctive sound of a HH-65 Dolphin helicopter. I looked up in the sky and saw it. Since I had my scanner with me, I heard him report that he was on scene.

The sheriff boat came back a little later. Again, I wasn't sure about the circumstances.

It was still a bit choppy.

I think this boat was carrying the divers because it was soon in the search area. I suspect that any boat that isn't a part of the search is told to stay away.

The helicopter started a search pattern. He made circles around the area. It think it was based on current patterns and modelling because a little while later, he called in saying that he had a new current model.

Even though it wasn't the best of circumstances, it still made for some pretty cool pictures. I see the Detroit helicopter all the time but I never get to see it in action. It's amazing that there are people that will go out in any condition to help other people.