By Chief Tom Rau, Coast Guard Group Grand Haven It rocketed into the mid-night sky, blazing its distress message across night’s black dome. Within an eye wink or two, it disappeared leaving an invisible trail in which searchers now must track its source. These illusive searches present an enormous challenge to the Coast Guard (CG) and other emergency response agencies. Furthermore, they can lead to a costly search, they can fatigue rescue crews, and they can, for the most part, be prevented
The following flare sighting based on a recent Coast Guard case reveals just how challenging flare sightings can be.
The phone rang at 12:55 p.m. at Station Muskegon. Hardly awake, I listened to the rescue coordinator at Coast Guard Group Grand Haven pass information regarding a flare sighting south of Muskegon Harbor, Lake Michigan. He order me to launch and within minutes my engineer and I broke the pierheads at Muskegon and plowed south into the open waters of Lake Michigan. Unseasonable cool air offered a clear night with unlimited visibility. A faint dim marked the Wisconsin shoreline; overhead, stars filled the cloudless night.
In all, the night provided the setting for a favorable search, one that allowed the naked eye and radar the opportunity to readily pick up targets. Except for a inbound vessel that we intercepted at the mouth of the Muskegon channel, and a University of Michigan research boat anchored just south of the harbor, the lake appeared devoid of boats. While outbound we hailed over the inbound craft and asked the captain if they observed aerial distress flares. No, he replied, but he had just provided a battery charge to a disabled boat adrift off the Mona Lake entrance, which is located four miles south of Muskegon. Incidently, that position coinsided with the reported position of the flare sighting. The captain also said the boater took off for Grand Haven. Was it the same boat that fired the flares? My hunch it was. But what if? Oh, by the way, the U. of M. crew also denied seeing flares in that area.
I called our rescue center and passed the information and asked if they had further questioned the reporting party on the flare location. As with so many reporting parties, they called 911 who in turn called the Coast Guard. The reporting party provided a call-back number but our people were unable to reach them. So here we are with third party information, a suspect vessel adrift off Mona lake now underway that we can’t contact, and the two vessels in the area whose captains saw no flares. Do we call off the search? Not hardly.
I steamed south to Mona Lake. Meanwhile the Station Grand Haven crew launched the 47-foot motor life boat. We met at Mona lake after running a shore line search from Muskegon to Grand Haven. Neither CG boat picked up targets on radar. We steamed further out into the lake for a second shore line search. About three miles out, I intercepted a gaff-rigged schooner heading south . The captain reported that while north of Muskegon Harbor he had spotted a flare around midnight just south of the Muskegon harbor and very near shore. Ah, could it be be the boat with the dead battery that fired the flares? At least we had second party confirmation of flares, and a collaborating information on its location. Still we had no visual or radar sightings and that included the Coast Guard helicopter’s radar which was now airborne and involved in the hunt. About an hour and half into the search, Group Grand Haven ordered all vessels to return to base. At first light, Grand Haven’s 47- motor life boat would resume the shoreline search. That search too proved fruitless and as I write we still wonder who fired off the flares. And there in lies the fly in ointment.
A simple call to the Coast Guard from the flare source telling us that they had fired the flares would’ve easily avoid this needless calamity. And to the reporting party: please, stay on scene and if you can, keep in touch with rescue agencies. Your first hand information is vital to our ability to pin-point locations and avoid rescuers searching in a huge black void as we did.
And for those who find themselves firing off distress flares, please save one for the rescuers so we can readily locate you.
As you can see a red distress flare is more than just a flame in the night, it is a trigger that sparks the rescue system into action; with a little forethought boaters can prevent searchers from needlessly tracking an invisible trail. Boat Smart- keep this in mind before you lite off that flare,
Boat Smart along with Lake Michigan weather, including water temperatures, is now available on the internet: www.boatsmart.net.
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Boat Smart 
