A father, mother and their infant son were stranded for more than three hours on Clearwater Lake, adrift in the dark and dangerously close to a reef, before being rescued by the RCMP last week.
The family from Mitchell, Man., and their two dogs were on the lake when their boat lost power and propulsion failed, RCMP said in a news release Tuesday.
The drifting boat was reported to RCMP around 10 p.m., as night fell and conditions deteriorated rapidly, with winds and waves picking up.
The family had tried to fix the boat but failed. With no light, they didn’t know which way they were going.
A team of three RCMP officers hit the water and encountered three- to four-foot waves as they searched the area.
A blinking light from the boat alerted officers to its location, roughly two kilometres from shore near Camper’s Cove boat launch.
The boat was drifting dangerously close to a reef that could have caused it to founder, RCMP said.
Officers from the rescued team manoeuvred around the reef and secured the boat, towing it back to the shore.
None of the occupants of the boat were injured.