Search suspended for missing kayaker out of Sheffield Lake

SHEFFIELD LAKE — A man remains missing after he fell out of his kayak on Lake Erie on Saturday afternoon. Sheffield Lake firefighters were called to the boat launch off Lake Road for a report of a kayaker in distress at 2:41 p.m. Saturday, Lt. Bryan Davis said. The man had been kayaking solo in a tandem kayak and was unable to make it back to the shore. The two other kayakers he was with were able to make it back to shore, Davis said. The man was able to call his family by phone later on, and said he'd fallen out of the kayak. "At that point we dispatched our county dive team, called Lorain Police Department, Coast Guard had already been dispatched and were already in a search pattern with their helicopters," Davis said. There were initially four boats in the water, plus a handful of jet skis searching off the shores of the boat launch, but after dispatch was able to track the man's phone to be moving east about two hours into the search, rescuers moved to Miller Road Park in Avon Lake. The Coast Guard later brought an additional helicopter out of its Buffalo station. The search was suspended for the night about 6:30 p.m. Saturday. The kayak and the man had yet to be found. Davis said the search will resume today with help from Lorain police, depending on weather conditions. He said the effort is still considered a rescue, as the missing man was wearing a life jacket when he fell in the water, and the water temperatures are in the 50s. A wind advisory was in effect until 9 p.m. Saturday, according to the National Weather Service, and a small craft advisory was in effect until 1 a.m. Sunday, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Contact Carissa Woytach at (440) 329-7245 or cwoytach@chroniclet.com.