Search area narrowed for missing kayaker
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FLATHEAD LAKE — The search for a kayaker that went missing on Flathead Lake Saturday afternoon in Polson continued Monday.
Robert W. McDonald, 43, a physician and hospitalist at Providence St. Joseph Medical Center in Polson, launched his kayak around noon on July 19 near the Bear Harbor condominiums but did not return. He was reported missing that evening at 11:15 p.m., and authorities have been searching Flathead Lake throughout the weekend.
Acting on a tip, Lake County Search and Rescue and Lake County Sheriff’s Office used their boats Monday to search a specific triangulated area where two groups of boaters saw a yellow kayak in the water Saturday afternoon.
The first group spotted a yellow kayak floating upside-down and tried to tow it to shore shortly after 1 p.m. but heavy waves broke it free. The second group saw a yellow kayak floating just under the surface of the water around 3:30 p.m. the same day, and successfully pulled it into their boat and brought it to shore. The group called dispatch Sunday morning after learning about a missing kayaker.
While authorities believe both groups sighted the same yellow kayak, they were unable to positively identify the recovered kayak as belonging to Dr. McDonald as there were no specific markings found on the boat.
Triangulation of the coordinates and locations given by the two groups of boaters allowed authorities to narrow the search Monday to a smaller area along the west shore of the bay using side-sonar equipment.
At approximately 5:45 p.m., a search dog hit on an area along the west shore. Lake County Sheriff’s deputies and SAR personnel headed to the area to dive and search more specifically. Unfortunately, they were unsuccessful in their preliminary search. All personnel were pulled off the search at 7:30 p.m. Monday evening with the intentions of resuming the search early this morning.
