Nicholas Vandevelde posing with his Seadoo. The same one he used to save the rider who went missing over the weekend. July 9, 2018. (Photo submitted by Nicholas Vandervelde)Nicholas Vandevelde posing with his Seadoo. The same one he used to save the rider who went missing over the weekend. July 9, 2018. (Photo submitted by Nicholas Vandervelde)
Chatham

Luck Helps Save Missing Boater

The boater who went missing in Lake St. Clair over the weekend might still be out there if it wasn't for the series of fortunate events that led to his rescue.

Police still haven't released the identity of the man who went missing overnight Saturday in Mitchell's Bay, but they confirmed he was found in good health Sunday afternoon.

Nicholas Vandevelde was the one who found the man near the mouth of the bay on St. Anne Island. He wasn't a part of the search effort and just kind of stumbled upon him in the water.

"I just happened to stop and look at my phone and my buddy went by on his boat and I heard someone yell and I'm like 'well that's weird,'" Vandevelde said. "So I put my phone down and was just cruising really slow on my Seadoo and all of the sudden there he is sitting in weeds."

According to Vandevelde the man spent most of the night swimming and was wearing a life jacket. He added aside from being hungry and thirsty, he was in pretty good shape.

"He was so thankful to see me," Vandevelde said. "I picked him up, gave him some water and called 911 right away to tell them I found him and all that fun stuff. He was covered in mosquito bites, but he was good."

Vandevelde said the rider was about a five-minute swim from the closest land and was going to make an effort to swim to shore because he saw wind turbines and thought he could find a road.

He added the police really appreciated it as well because officers told him they didn't plan on expanding the search to that area of the lake as the stranded rider's Seadoo was found at least 15 km from where Vandevelde discovered him.

Luck certainly seemed to be on the missing boater's side as Vandevelde originally didn't plan on going to Mitchell's Bay that day.

"We were planning on going to Rondeau that day, but changed our plans," Vandevelde said. "We saw all the helicopters and I was actually just talking to someone about it and we knew he was still missing."

Ultimately Vandevelde said he was glad to find the man and said it felt like some kind of divine intervention.

"It was meant to be though considering all the stuff we were planning on doing otherwise. It was kind of a coincidence I ran into him, but I am happy it happened."

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