After being swept off a pier in Montague, Michigan, a surfer and his son rescued a man from piercing cold water Wedneday.
Surfers Josh Taylor his son Issac Taylor rescued a man from 39-degree water after he was reportedly "10 seconds away from going under."
“I was walking the pier to jump back in,” Taylor said. “He was running back toward shore and the water came up behind him and knocked him over. As soon as he landed the water swept him in [the channel] just like that. Everyone else was in the water and had no idea it happened.”
Taylor said he jumped in, put the man on his surfboard and told him to hold onto the nose of the board. The surfer then paddled him to a latter on the pier where he helped the man out of the cold water.
According to a Facebook post in the private group "Lake Michigan Surfing," the man was "10 seconds away from going under" and the surfers "raced to save him from 39-degree water."
“After I took this picture the ‘swimmer’ [man walking on the pier] said ‘this is the smile of a guy who is so happy to be alive right now,'" the Facebook post read.
The pair received praise from the Great Lakes Surf Rescue Project, which reported that 109 drownings have occurred in 2020 in the Great Lakes with 56 deaths in Lake Michigan. Almost half of all drownings in the Great Lakes since 2010 have occurred in Lake Michigan, according to the organization's data.
