News Photo by Steve Schulwitz Alpena County Undersheriff Cash Kroll stands at the bow of a police boat to see why a boat is drifting in Thunder Bay without anyone aboard. After a brief investigation, Kroll and Sheriff Erik Smith learned the boat had broken free from its anchor early Friday morning and the wind pushed it out deeper into the lake.

ALPENA — A well-trained and dependable marine response police unit is critical to protecting people who may have an accident or health emergency on the water, police said Friday after responding to a boat adrift in Thunder Bay.

On Friday, 911 dispatchers received a call with a report of a boat adrift in Thunder Bay, south of Alpena. The caller said it appeared nobody was aboard the boat.

Alpena County Sheriff Erik Smith and Undersheriff Cash Kroll were dispatched to make sure everything was OK.

Smith and Kroll launched the Sheriff’s Office boat from the boat ramp in the Thunder Bay River and quickly sped to the area where the watercraft was reportedly located. After a brief search, Smith and Kroll found the boat.

The incident wasn’t serious and nobody was hurt.

The boat had broken from its anchor in shallow water while the owner was asleep overnight, and the wind had pushed it far offshore. Kroll reported the license number to dispatchers, who tracked down the owner. Police returned the vessel to the man with only a warning to secure the boat better in the future.

Before knowing what had happened to the boat and why it was adrift, both of the police officers braced for what they may have found as the police craft approached the drifting vessel.

Smith said there are times a person is on a boat by themselves and have a health emergency and die before any help arrives.

He said those types of events are rare, but show why marine patrol response is critical.

“Alpena has a very vast waterway, with the inland lakes, rivers, floodwaters, and the Great Lake, which is a lot of shoreline to cover,” Smith said. “It is important for us to be able to go out there to protect lives and property. It may sound extreme, but, like today, you never know what you’re going to find, including a body. Somebody could have had a heart attack while in the boat, so it is important to be able to do this for the community and its visitors.”

The Sheriff’s Office owns a 20-foot flat-bottom boat with a jet drive that allows police to move swiftly to an emergency and access very shallow water. It also owns a larger, 25-foot boat that was used by the U.S. Coast Guard before Alpena County purchased it several years ago. That larger boat is primarily used in rough water and during larger emergencies during which more manpower and horsepower is needed.

With the recent hot weather and the Michigan Brown Trout Festival in full gear, the activity on Thunder Bay is among the busiest it is all boating season.

Smith said boaters, kayakers, and other people enjoying the lake do a good job of staying alert and making sure one another is safe. He said that, often, when there is a dangerous situation, it is because the person who is operating a boat is a novice and lacks the experience of captaining a boat on the big lake, where conditions can change quickly and without much warning.

Great Lakes cruise ships that shuttle people to and from shore also enhance the chance of an emergency that will need a response on the lake, Smith said.

“You just have to have some knowledge about what you are doing on the lake,” he said. “Anyone can go buy a boat, but that doesn’t mean you know how to use it and be safe with it. The inland lakes and rivers are more forgiving for new boat owners, but, when you get out on the big lake, it is serious, and you better know what you are doing. You can get yourself in a bad spot if you don’t know what the heck you’re doing.”

Steve Schulwitz can be reached at 989-358-5689 or sschulwitz@thealpenanews.com. Follow him on Twitter @ss_alpenanews.com.