Tyler Spink of Kalkaska, MI was kayaking with a friend in the waters off Platte Bay Monday, Sept. 5th, when the kayaks capsized. A fisherman in the area reportedly heard screaming and found two capsized kayaks. They were able to rescue Spink’s friend.
The National Parks Service, which was the last agency searching for Tyler ended its search Friday, Sept. 10.
On Sept 26th, I was contacted by a friend from Michigan informing me of the search for Tyler Spink. I reached out to Tyler’s family to inform them of Bruce’s Legacy and offered our services.
I learned that the family was not from the Platt Bay area yet the mother was so determined, she wasn’t leaving without her son. Also, the family was very involved with organizing searches after the local authorities had exhausted their search efforts.
On October 6th, we drove to Manitowoc, WI. There, we boarded a ferry with the truck and boat to get us across the lake. Then, five hours later we arrived in Ludington, MI to begin our two hour drive North to Frankfort, MI.
I reached out to Drew Morris from Muskegon, MI to ask for his assistance. I had met Drew last year, at this same time when Bruce’s Legacy was in Holland, Mi to search for two missing fisherman. Drew is a retired school teacher who has spent a lifetime on the lake with his charter fishing service. He has a wealth of Lake Michigan boating knowledge. Graciously, Drew and his wife Kathy agreed to help and began making arrangements to get off from work.
We all met with Dave and Kelly, Tyler’s stepdad and mother. later that evening and talked about the search.
October 7th, after looking at the lake’s weather forecast, we knew it going to be rough waters. The southern winds forecasted would make the 12 mile run a bumpy ride out and back but the search area would be protected by some shoreline. We were able to broadly scan the area we planned to focus on first. The underwater survey was necessary to get an idea what the bottom contour was like and what we were up against. There was a big drop off that we had been warned of, by previous searchers. After some short scanning the waves were building up, so we headed back to Frankfort port.
With Drew navigating the waves, we made it back safely with even more respect for this massive lake. We then met with Kelly and Dave (Tylers parents) for dinner.
October 8th, the winds proved too much and wouldn’t allow us out on the lake. We took this downtime to travel up to Empire and scope out another boat access. This proved not to be a good location for our boat as there was no dock in place. We then stopped at a location near the Platte River where Tyler and his friend had left from, to enter Lake Michigan. They had planned to camp on sand dunes, along the lake.
Visiting these locations was beneficial to us. It provided a better perspective of our intended search area from a shoreline view. Sunday’s forecast looks more favorable for us to actually get out on the lake to get searching. We’ll keep you updated as we go along.
Update as of Oct 16th
Oct 9th we covered a large area again with only finding a 16’ sail boat in about 160’ of water.
Oct 10th we covered a lot of area and late in the afternoon the laptop decided to do a Windows 10 update. This took close to two hours to complete while floating out in this area. Thank you Windows 10!!!
Oct 11th we picked up from where the computer shut down from the previous day and within minutes we picked up on our first image of a good target. We worked on getting the cages on the target and ran out of time knowing the wind was going to make a rough ride back.
Oct 12th the winds blew and waves are too big. We pulled into the Bay View Restaurant to use up some time and use their WiFi. We already had homemade biscuits and gravy that Kelly made for us but found ourselves ordering a light breakfast and getting some much needed work done on the computer. Before we knew it, it was 1:30 and they close at 2 pm. It was a first for any of us, to be in one restaurant for two consecutive meals. The staff brought us fresh baked chocolate chip cookies and fresh apples, in addition to our orders. I was able to share some of what we do with a few of the locals to help them better understand our mission.
Oct 13th hoping that the waves would be better, we poked out on the lake and decided that we would have to wait it out for calmer winds.
The fall weather has not been good to us here. We have been able to sneak out for some time here and there but usually with a rough ride. from the search area and back 12 is miles to the Franfort Marina.
The toughest decision for us is knowing when to say “when”, even though we want so badly to continue for the family. The local Coast Guard official explained to us that this is normal fall weather here with unpredictable changes in short time spans.
With deepest regrets to Tyler’s amazing and inspiring family, we will need to return in the spring when weather allows a safe search on this powerful body of water.
We have so many people to thank, we hope we haven’t forgotten anyone.
Thanks and appreciation to/for:
- For the cabin we stayed at; so wonderful – so generous
- Home cooked meals and people paying for some meals
- Storm Cloud Brewhouse and Restaurant
- Roadhouse Mexican Bar and Grill
- Bay View Grill for the 3 meals with wifi and cookies
- Hungry Tummy Restaurant
- Lew Stempki for passing our Bruce’s Legacy information to Tyler’s Family and getting us connected
- The Frankfort Coast Guard Station and Staff
- Drew and Kathy Morris and West Marine for giving Drew time to lend his skills
- The Family of Tyler Spink
- Community, we would be sitting in a restaurant, people would drive by and see our boat sitting there and call the restaurant and pay for our meals over the phone. Thanks to the anonymous people dropping off food and cards at the cabin when we were searching. Many offers of hospitality throughout that we were unable to even take advantage of because we were so well taken care of.