Kayaker rescued off of Peche Island by Coast Guard after ice surrounds area

A Windsor woman out for an afternoon paddle in her kayak, was rescued Wednesday from Peche Island by the U.S. Coast guard in cooperation with their Canadian counterpart. What is up for some debate, is whether or not she needed to be rescued.

Wanda Embury said she's an experienced kayaker who has paddled the Great Lakes, the length of the St. Lawrence River, and many lakes up north. On Wednesday, she paddled to her favourite spot on Peche Island to enjoy lunch and the sun. 

"What I was trying to do is to have an afternoon of peace and quiet and kayak over to the island like I've done hundreds of times," Embury told CBC News. 

On her way to the island, said Embury, there was no ice out on the water. But once she arrived, things changed. 

"All of a sudden, there was little round circles of ice, and I did maybe two or three strokes into the round circles, I couldn't see any of them until I was on top of them," she said. 

Embury said she knows that ice can be dangerous, and people can be pulled under. But she was able to get to the island and felt safe.

"I felt that I was fine. I wasn't panicking," she said. 

She took off her wet suit and took out her lunch when she noticed the U.S. Coast Guard helicopter flying overhead. 

"I said, 'Oh, they must be training,' because they come up and down that waterway quite frequently," she said. "Well, I thought they were in some kind of training until I saw some guy — because they were hovering — and some guy ended up coming down and he started walking toward me. I'm like, 'Oh, something's wrong.'"

Someone on the shore phoned the Coast Guard about Embury's visit there, she said. 

U.S. Coast Guard spokesperson Lt. Jeremiah Schiessel confirmed that Canada's Joint Rescue Command Centre requested search and rescue assistance on Wednesday for a call about a kayaker travelling to Peche Island. 

Schiessel said the person was not in immediate distress, but that there was potential for the situation to get worse. 

The U.S. Coast guard did airlift Embury from the island, leaving her kayak behind, dropping her off at Windsor Airport. 

The rescue was done as a preventative measure, said Schiessel.