Sure we’re all going to pass on but how we do, I believe, depends on the choices we make along life’s path. If not, why did the Good Lord give us a free will? One choice we certainly have when we step onto a boat is to wear a life jacket. Let me share a recent case of two sailors who made such a choice and for certain, breathe today because they did.

Grand Haven, 21 September 1999, 5:20 p.m. The Group Grand Haven Command Center directed the Station Grand Haven boat crew to launch. An observer on shore reported a wind surfer experiencing difficultly north of the Grand Haven Pier.

Boatswain Mate Second Class Chris LaCroix and his crew aboard the 47-foot Motor Life Boat (MLB) broke the pierheads within minutes and began searching. Mind you they were searching for a wind surfer as reported. Sail boards provide a reasonable target to locate because of the sail, an advantage enhanced by the MLB’s flying bridge which offers a 14-foot vantage above the water. From that height, the probability of locating the sail board seemed high.

But they found nothing.

LaCroix cell-phoned the reporting party who then directed the MLB to the location he last saw the sail board. Still they found nothing.

The MLB continued a series of searches parallel to the shore line with a half-mile distance between tracks. Remember, they were searching for a sail board which are nearly unsinkable. So where was it and was it a sail board? Frustration began to gnaw at the Coast Guard crew. They had already run a number of legs parallel to shore. The Group controller directed them to conduct one final near shore leg. Bingo! About a mile south of the pierhead they spotted a person in the water about 100 yards off shore in eight feet of water.

Great news, but then arrrived the bad- he was not alone. When his small sail boat, not sail board, sank around a mile north of the Grand Haven pierheads he swam for help. He said his friend aboard, a poor swimmer, had drifted away from the boat. Now the hunt narrowed down to a person in the water, who according to his buddy was wearing a green life jacket: not an easy target for the eye to find amongst the Lake’s green and blue hues. What’s more, 10-15 knot winds, along with 2-foot seas had carried the person along in the 59 degree sea for over two hours. The good news the atmospheric conditions offered unlimited visibility. Still the probability of detection were slim considering the search area involved 5.2 square miles with dusk approaching.

LaCroix and the crew proceded to the area where the boat reportedly went down and planned another series of parallel searches with a much smaller track spacing between legs. A small search object such as person in the water demands narrower search legs. Although this increases the probability of detection it also increases the number of search legs to run: not good with nighfall approaching. Soon into the search- contact! Around a mile south of the Grand Haven pierhead and two miles away from where the sail boat reportedly went down, BM3 Jason Grimm spotted the second person drifting in a stupor. "When we hauled him aboard he was rigid. His eyes possessed that thousand-yard stare," said Grimm. Within minutes, they were back at Station Grand Haven where paramedics raced the two survivors to the hospital. The second person, a male, 25, was in critical condition suffering from severe hypothermia with a body temperature of 85 degress F, up three degrees from when the CG crew snatched from the Lake.

Word reached me about the rescue around an hour after the survivors were admitted to North Ottawa Community Hostipal’s emergency room. When Pat Gerrits, the Group Controller, told me the details about the sail boat rescue, my exuberance echoed through Station Muskegon. This was bittersweet news considering the unsuccessful rescue I ran three days earlier. That case involved a 16-foot Centerline adrift on Lake Michigan just north of the Muskegon North Pierhead with only a chocolate Labrador aboard. An extensive air and sea search by the Coast Guard, Muskegon Marine Patrol, and Muskegon Fire Department failed to find the dog’s master, a 36- year-old male. As of this writing, he remains missing.

What was the life-saving factor between the two rescue cases? LIFE JACKETS!

Undoubtably too, a great deal of credit goes to the MLB crew. That was a life-saving rescue under very difficult conditions. I seldom list crew members in the Boat Smart column but in a way I’m listing all Coasites who train so long, endure so much: the mid-night calls, the bitter cold, the smoldering heat, the gut-wrenching storms, the life-threatening lightening, the drawn-out 72-hour duty weekends laced with boredom then sudden adrenalin rushs when the SAR alarm sounds, and of course dealing with chiefs like myself- all of it, every pain, every joy, it’s all worth it and then some when a life is saved.

Boaters certainly can provide us with a fighting chance to successfully complete those life-saving search and rescue missions by wearing life jackets. It’s your choice

Crew members aboard the 47-MLB: BM2 Chris LaCroix, BM3 Jason Grimm, MK3 Brad Jelinek, FN Kim Stokes, SN Jason Hittle, FA Adam Johnson. By the way, that was FA Johnson’s first duty day in the Coast Guard. Asked before the rescue why he joined the CG, he said: "to save lifes." Welcome aboard.

A special salute to Steve Sipe who made the call to the Coast Guard and assisted the MLB crew from shore. And to Pat Gerrits and his crew at Group Grand Haven’s Rescue Coordination Center, the behind the scene doers.

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Boat Smart is now on the Internet: www.boatsmart.net (includes Lake Michigan water temperatures and local weather).

Use channel 16 for emergencies, and channel 9 for calling fellow boaters.