Their 31-foot sailboat ran up on the rocks halfway across the bay. Two conservation officers had them back on shore within the hour.
A family of five from L’Anse made it home safe this week after their sailboat got stuck fast on the rocks in the middle of Keweenaw Bay, the DNR said in a release Thursday.
They had set out on Lake Superior on Tuesday, sailing their 31-foot boat from the Portage Canal in Houghton County toward the L’Anse Marina. It is about a 15-mile run straight across the bay.
About halfway over, the boat ran up onto the rocks and would not budge.
The family did exactly the right thing. They called 911 right away.
Negaunee Regional Dispatch got the Michigan DNR on the line, and within 30 minutes, conservation officers Brian Lasanen and Cody Smith had launched their 18-foot patrol boat from the Baraga County Marina.
They found the family about six miles out, northeast of the Sand Point Lighthouse, the beacon every L’Anse boater knows.
Everyone was in good shape. The officers brought all five back to the marina, safe and dry.
That is about as smoothly as one of these calls can go. The family stayed put, kept their heads, and had a way to reach help, and the officers knew right where to look.
The sailboat came through fine too, aside from being stuck, and it was not leaking anything into the water. A salvage company will pull it off the rocks. The U.S. Coast Guard helped out with the rescue.
It has been an eventful stretch for the U.P. The same week the region has been baking under extreme fire danger on land, this was a reminder that the water demands just as much respect.
Keweenaw Bay is a wide, open stretch of Lake Superior between the Keweenaw and the mainland. It is beautiful on a calm day and unforgiving when conditions turn.
Lake Superior gives Yoopers plenty, from quiet summer evenings to the Northern Lights that dance over its shoreline. It can also turn on you in a hurry.
So the DNR used the rescue to pass along a few reminders now that boating season is here.
Wear a Coast Guard-approved life jacket, because there is rarely time to dig one out of storage when something goes wrong. Keep a marine radio or another way to call for help within reach. Check the weather and the water temperature before you push off.
And file a float plan with someone you trust, so a person on shore knows your route, your boat, and who is aboard. In Michigan, anyone born after June 30, 1996, also needs a boater safety certificate to run a motorized boat.
This time, a quick phone call and a fast boat were all it took. A scary night on the biggest of the Great Lakes, and every one of them came home.
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Topics: L’Anse, Baraga County, Keweenaw Bay, Lake Superior, Michigan DNR, boating safety, Upper Peninsula, conservation officers
Sources: WLUC TV6 / Upper Michigan’s Source (“Family of 5 rescued by DNR after sailboat gets stuck on rocks in Keweenaw Bay,” June 4, 2026) and Michigan Department of Natural Resources press release, June 4, 2026.
Featured image credit: Delta County Historical Society. Chadwickb
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