A Wakarusa, Ind., family was rescued from high-waves on Lake Michigan on Sunday after being thrown from their personal watercraft in Michigan City, the Indiana Department of Natural Resources said.

According to DNR, at 1 p.m.—just prior to the scheduled start of the Super Boat Grand Prix powerboat race near Washington Park—Anthony Hargrove and his wife and son were thrown from their personal watercraft and Hargrove was unable to re-start it.

“Hard-pounding eight-foot waves” were pushing the three “toward the craggy rocks of the lighthouse pier,” DNR said, when conservation officers were able to maneuver their own personal watercraft to the scene and secure a tow line to the Hargrove’s craft.

“Hargrove and his family were able to hold on to their personal watercraft,” which was then towed to a U.S. Coast Guard patrol boat. All three were then safely pulled from the water.

The Super Boat Grand Prix was subsequently canceled due to “treacherous lake conditions,” the DNR noted.

GARFIELD TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) — Authorities in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula say they rescued a Lansing-area woman from Lake Michigan after the personal watercraft she was using drifted from shore.

The Mackinac County sheriff’s department says Mary Dupree of Holt started having mechanical difficulties Sunday with the watercraft off Garfield Township and strong winds pushed her from shore.

Dupree and her watercraft were recovered with help from area fishermen, the sheriff’s department and the state Department of Natural Resources. She wasn’t injured.

High waves sweep Lake Mich. beaches; 1 man drowns

ST. JOSEPH, Mich. (AP) — Authorities say an Illinois man has drowned in Lake Michigan in southwestern Michigan as high waves sweep the state’s western coast.

The 41-year-old victim is from Montgomery, Ill. His name was not immediately released Sunday by authorities in Berrien County. TV station WOOD says waves were reported to be at least 6 feet high.

More than 100 miles north, the city of Ludington closed Stearns Park beach due to high waves and rip currents in Lake Michigan. In Pentwater in Oceana County, authorities were searching for a missing swimmer in the same lake. Sheriff Bob Farber says there were conflicting reports about whether the man was in the water.

Posted 8/6/2012