Sailor shares story about lake rescue

More details about the recent sailboat rescue on Whitefish Lake emerged last week after the capsized boat was salvaged from the lake.

Luke Landi, 20, and his cousin were out on the lake the evening of Aug. 2 testing out a new pocket cruiser sailboat named Bad Guppy. Luke is an experienced sailor who has manned boats on the Caribbean, but is more familiar with larger rigs than the 13-foot guppy.

“We were just cruising around in no wind,” Luke said. “I had an eye on the storm, but it was hard to tell how big it was.”

That day Luke’s father, Walt, was watching from shore when the nasty thunderstorm came in from the north. The typically placid mountain lake quickly turned into a violent stew of 6- to 7-foot waves.

Luke decided to turn back when he first saw the wall of wind move across the water.

It was too late.

A gust hit the guppy and knocked it over instantly. Luke stood on the keel and was able to flip the boat back over, but the wind and waves capsized it again. The boat then started filling with water and massive waves kept sweeping the two men into the lake.

Luckily Walt saw the whole incident from shore and quickly moved into action. He approached two men at the City Beach boat ramp with jet skis and asked to use one.

Walt charged into the storm toward the sinking boat. He said he’s never seen such powerful waves on Whitefish Lake.

“The waves were crashing over me,” Walt told the Pilot. “It was unbelievable how tall they were. I was getting pounded by waves. It was life or death.”

Luke and his cousin were somehow hanging on to the flipped boat, just hoping to ride out the storm.

It took some effort for Walt to make it to the middle of the lake as he battled the whitecaps and wind.

“We finally saw dad coming out on the jet ski,” Luke recalled. “He was fully clothed and still wearing his aviators.”

Finally on the scene, the two men climbed onboard the jet ski and left the sinking sailboat behind.

One of the other jet skiers met Walt halfway to help take some of the load off his jet ski, which was struggling in the waves. Everyone eventually made it back to shore safely where the Whitefish Fire Department was staged.

Later that evening Whitefish students Scott and Jack Kahle, who operate a Whitefish Lake boaters assistance business, went out on the lake with Luke to salvage the guppy.

The boat was found upside down and tied to a dock. They bailed out all the water and the boat is reportedly in fine condition.

The entire incident changed Luke’s perspective on sailing mountain lakes.

“I had no idea a little lake like that could turn so violent,” he said.