CLEVELAND — Rescue personnel from the U.S. Coast Guard and Canadian Coast Guard are searching for a man in Lake Ontario who was reported missing about 3:30 p.m., Sunday.
The missing man is Michael “Dave” French of Rochester, N.Y.
At 3:25 p.m., Saturday, Joint Rescue Coordination Centre Trenton, Ontario, reported a 32-foot sailboat had washed ashore at Point Petre, Ontario with a New York registration and no passengers aboard.
It was reported that the vessel had cash, food, ice in a cooler and a driver’s license onboard.
French was last seen at about 9 a.m., Saturday departing from Sodus Bay, N.Y., aboard the sailing vessel Persnickety and generally travels north 10-15 miles before returning to Sodus Bay.
The sailboat’s onboard GPS was not in use.
Searching are: the crew of the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Katmai Bay, home-ported in Sault Ste. Marie, Mich.; an aircrew from U.S. Coast Guard Air Station Elizabeth City, N.C., aboard a C-130 Hercules; an aircrew from U.S. Coast Guard Air Station Detroit aboard an MH-65 Dolphin helicopter; a boatcrew from U.S. Coast Guard Station Rochester, N.Y., aboard a 47-foot Motor Lifeboat; an aircrew from JRCC Trenton aboard a C-130 Hercules; an aircrew from JRCC Trenton aboard a CH-146 Griffon helicopter; the crew of Canadian Coast Guard Ship Cape Hearne; and the crew of Canadian Coast Guard Auxiliary Wellington.
“Our bi-national agreements with our Canadian partners are allowing us to closely coordinate our search efforts and properly allocate our search assets,” said Capt. Eric Johnson, the chief of incident management at the Coast Guard 9th District in Cleveland.
Anyone that may have information that could aid in the search is asked to call 216-902-6117.
