Boaters rescued during trip to cross Lake Erie

9/1/2006

SANDUSKY Three boaters traveling from Detroit to Cedar Point were rescued by a Coast Guard helicopter yesterday after their 21-foot vessel ran out of gas and drifted to the rocky Cedar Point causeway.

PO Scott Friedhoff said the pleasure boat was drifting about 300 feet from shore in 6-foot-to-7-foot waves when the Coast Guard launched its 47-foot rescue boat.

The distress call was made about 1 a.m.

The shallow water prevented the Coast Guard from getting too close, prompting the call for a helicopter rescue.

The three people on the disabled boat managed to step onto the rocks, from where the helicopter picked them up and took them to shore.

No one was injured, Petty Officer Friedhoff said.