One Michigan business, FandomRandom, is taking advantage of the opportunity by offering T-shirts printed with messages that include, “Sarnia: The best designed driver Port Huron could ask for”, and “Port Huron Float Down 2016 refugee”. The boaters were participants of the Float Down event (a yearly event on St. Clair River).
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Over one thousand Americans accidentally crossed the global border after strong winds took their rafts and boats to Canada. The Coast Guard saved about 40 people from drowning and assisted 125 more who were unable to get back to shore under their own power.
Due to the hard conditions, some rafts deflated. “Cops and the Canadian Coast Guard had to rescue hundreds whose rafts had deflated-and talk some of them out of trying to swim all the way back to the USA”.
Due to the cooler weather and water many floaters needed assistance from Sarnia down through Corunna.
“No one carried their passport or any ID, and a lot were drinking alcohol”.
Ernie Jacobs posted a video of himself and a group of partying pals being towed back to the USA on YouTube.
“It was a bit of a nightmare, but we got through it”, he said.
Canadian authorities transported 19 busloads of Americans to United States Customs and Border Patrol on the USA side before they issused an admonishment.
In it, he said: “We’re being towed back to the United States from Canada and we had a little accident, but we’re gonna get in”.
Sarnia police did not say whether anyone was charged in the incident and there were only minor injuries reported.
Police in Sarnia, Ontario, say a strong current and a lack of life jackets contributed to the hazards.
Some of the “floaters” that were rescued by local authorities. “We’re not concerned about citizenship at this point”, Sarnia police inspector Doug Warn told the Blackburn News.
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For decades, crowds of as many as 6,000 inner tubers have drifted down the Saint Clair River from Lighthouse Beach in Port Huron to Chrysler Beach in Marysville, Michigan in the annual Port Huron Float Down.
