Man Floats Away on Lake Erie and is Unharmed (Philadelphia: home, tornado)

[trackstar13]

So I am watching the news yesterday and I see a story about a fishermen from Philadelphia who floated away on a piece of ice into Lake Erie and was rescued after calling from his cell phone. The story was definitely pretty comical, especially because the guy was unharmed, but it also made me wonder if anyone has any funny or terrifying Lake Erie stories of their own. My only Lake Erie stories so far are that I walked across Presque Isle Bay this year and saw the ice boats sailing, which were definitely pretty cool things to do, but I am sure there are some better stories out there. So please feel free to post your crazy Lake Erie stories here and I have included the link for the guy floating away on a chunk of ice below for your viewing pleasure.

Man unharmed after floating onto Lake Erie on ice | GoErie.com/Erie Times-News

[Ohiogirl81]

Tourists! LOL

Funny stories ... You mean like the time a really big wave knocked off my bathing suit top in full view of everyone on the sand? Or when my husband inadvertently flushed out a group of turkeys when we were hiking at the peninsula, and they chased him a few yards down the path?

OK ... maybe not.

No scary stories -- I got the message loud and clear about not frolicking on the ice dunes or near the jetties at an early age. I was climbing the cliffs once around the Lawrence Park Golf Course, and fell about five feet into the water, but the only harm was to my pride, and a few scrapes and cuts.

[RyanR]

I lived on Lake Erie growing up. As a kid, we used to grab a long branch off the beach, break off icebergs and paddle around (using the stick to push off the lake bottom).

One time when I was about 12, a neighbor and I were doing it. He got cold so he headed to shore. About 10 minutes later, I look off in the distance and see him waving his arms frantically telling me to come in. I waved him off since I was having a good time. He continued this frantic waving then pointed out behind me. There was a water spout (tornado on water) about 400 yards away and heading straight towards me. I paddled as quickly towards shore as I could but it was gaining on me. Once it got close to within about 50 yards of me, I knew I couldn't stay on the surface. Took a big breath, jumped in and swam under the iceberg I was on. I waited and waited but it never came through. Out of air, I had to return to the surface. I looked around and it was gone. I hauled butt to shore since you really don't want to spend that long in 33° water. My neighbor said it dissipated about 5 seconds after I jumped in the water. Ran home to get out of the clothes.

I didn't tell my parents about this until I was in my 40's.

[Ohiogirl81]

I've never seen a waterspout. That would be way cool.

[trackstar13]

Wow very interesting stories so far and I agree the ice dunes are crazy and the waterspout sounds like something that would be scary, but also pretty cool to see at the same time. I am really looking forward to the boating season this year and I hope to take my new kayak out pretty often as well as spend some time on the main lake with my friends so I am sure I will have some new stories soon. Driving to work today I noticed that the entire bay is now open and the amount of ducks, seagulls, and geese in the water is insane. It was hard to even see the water because it is so covered with birds, it is like they all came back at once.