A Michigan surfer has shared his experience of attempting to save a drowning fisherman Saturday morning.
An unidentified man was pulled from the water by rescuers, including the man’s son, at Frankfort’s North Pier of Lake Michigan shortly before 10am. EMTs performed CPR but the fisherman did not survive.
Among those rescuers was Ryan Gerard, 40, owner of the Third Coast Surf Shop, who spotted the rescue crew trying to save the man and jumped into action, paddling fast to his near-lifeless body.
In a moving Facebook post, the father-of-two said he watched the fisherman die, describing the rescue as a ‘humbling day’ that he will ‘never forget’.
Ryan Gerard, 40, attempted to save a drowning fisherman along with others Saturday at the northern pier of Lake Michigan
The surfer recalled his experience on Facebook saying it is one he may never forget
Gerard wrote on his company’s Facebook page Sunday: ‘Yesterday was a humbling day. I helped rescue a fisherman who was washed off the Frankfort pier in northern Lake Michigan. I watched him die.’
He said Friday’s swell was ‘big and solid’ which created ‘peaky surf in the head high +range’.
The next morning he went to the beach the and saw locals enjoying the waves with good surfing conditions.
‘A couple hours into the [surf] session I was waiting for a set when I noticed a couple guys scrambling around way out on the pier. I saw one grab a life ring off the stand and throw it into the water. It was pretty far away but I could tell something was wrong, so I started paddling out there,’ he wrote.
Gerard says he paddled on his 7’10 surfboard, taking him about eight minutes to reach the commotion. When he got closer he saw there were three men on the pier pulling someone from the water in a life preserver ring.
As he kept paddling, he says he saw the man slip out of the ring just a few feet from the pier.
Gerard, owner of Third Coast Surf Shop’ said he watched the man die
A map shows the northern pier in Frankfort, Michigan, where the man tragically drowned
Gerard reached the man an began pulling him toward the pier.
He said: ‘One of the guys jumped in to help me lift the man from the bottom as the two guys on the pier pulled him up. Luckily, there are rocks along the pier that we were able to stand on, and we got him up after a minute.
The part I may never forget is, while lifting the man out of the water and onto the pier, the guy helping me lift saying ‘C’mon, Dad.’
‘He looked bloated, blue, and lifeless.’
First responders arrived and began performing CPR while Gerard sat in the water and watched.
One of the men who pulled the fisherman from the water is believed to have been his son.
Gerard wrote that one moment from the event will stick with him forever.
‘The part I may never forget is, while lifting the man out of the water and onto the pier, the guy helping me lift saying ”C’mon, Dad.”’
Gerard said among one of the rescuers trying to pull the man from the water was the fisherman’s son
‘The deep water swell was big that far out and the current swirling near the rocks,’ he said. ‘It was no surprise he struggled to get back to the pier.’
Gerard paddled out to gather the man’s clothes that he appeared to have stripped off to lighten the weight of his heavy gear pulling him down.
He collected a hat, boot and jacket and returned them to the pier.
‘I’ve been doing this for 20 years, so I’m pretty in tune with what’s happening out in the water, and on a day like that, if someone’s walking out on the pier, I’m peeking over to see if anything’s happened,’ Gerard told MLive.
‘There’s a lot of water moving on a day like that because the swell is swirling near the pier and there’s rocks right there,’ he continued. ‘You get this swirling current happening … it happens all too often and surfers over the years have saved tons of people from things like this.
‘Unfortunately, we were too late to save this guy.’