LAKE SUPERIOR – A sailboat captain in distress in July could have been in a much more precarious situation if the Lake County Sheriff’s Department hadn’t taken possession of a nearly half-million-dollar watercraft gifted from the Grand Portage Band of Lake Superior Chippewa.
“The sailboat was disabled due to damage caused by strong winds,” Lake County Chief Deputy Timothy Luoma told the Northshore Journal Oct. 7. “We were able to utilize the boat and towed the sailboat to the safety of the Silver Bay Marina.”
With the boating and open water recreation seasons largely in the rearview mirror, local law enforcement in Cook and Lake counties say two marine vessels they took control of earlier this year already showed why they were needed.
The boat Luoma references is one of four custom vessels (valued at $493,000 each) that Grand Portage commissioned from Lake Assault Boats in Superior, Wisc. The Band acquired four boats last fall with the help of state money, with the Band keeping two and gifting one each to Cook and Lake counties. The need for the boats, local and state officials said, came after the Coast Guard permanently closed its station in Grand Marais in 2022.
Luoma said the boat Lake County received was utilized numerous times throughout the summer, including three separate occasions at Palisade Head, where the vessel served “as a platform to work off of.” Two of those operations were recovery missions, including the July incident where the Lake County Sheriff’s Office received a report of a body on the rocks at the bottom of the cliff at Palisade Head.
When the Coast Guard shuttered its Grand Marais station, it cited a low number of calls and budgetary restrictions as the primary reasons for the closure. State Sen. Grant Hauschild said the closure left the North Shore “stranded.” Hauschild, working with former State Representative Rob Ecklund (now a lobbyist for Grand Portage), secured $3 million in the 2023 Judiciary and Public Safety Omnibus Bill for the Grand Portage Band of Chippewa to purchase the boats. With those funds, Grand Portage worked with the Cook County and Lake County Sheriff’s departments to design a comprehensive rescue plan for the North Shore to assist watercraft or other people in distress. Local officials have said previously that the North Shore sees enough emergencies on Lake Superior to make this partnership pertinent, with local distress calls during recent years ranging from large ships to paddlers attempting to reach Isle Royale from the mainland.
Cook County Sheriff Ben Hallberg said the boat it received from Grand Portage is about to be stored for the winter. Hallberg said the Cook County boat didn’t see as much use as the Lake County vessel.
“The boat did not go out on any official calls for service this year,” Hallberg said Oct. 5. “It was taken out twice for training early in the season and we are hoping to get it out a few more times before it is placed in storage for the winter.”
In April, the Cook County Board of Commissioners signed an agreement with the Grand Portage Band to take possession of the boat. County officials said there are funds from the Minnesota Boat and Water Safety Grant and the federal Operation Stonegarden grant that can help offset some of the costs that will come from having the boat. Hallberg indicated to this newspaper that the cost to have the boat this year was approximately $5,500 in 2026 and paid from grant monies. Insurance costs are separate, Hallberg said, and are approximately $4,600 this year, paid through the Sheriff’s Office budget.
Luoma said Lake County’s total expenses for having the new boat operational this year will be approximately $8,000. This number includes fuel, maintenance, supplies, and repairs, he noted, and is paid entirely through grant funding. In addition, wages for staff time on the vessel have been covered under both state and federal grants, Luoma said.
Lake County also signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Grand Portage earlier this year. Lake County Administrator Matt Huddleston previously told the Northshore Journal that the Lake County Sheriff’s Office plans to keep the boat in the water at the marina in Silver Bay during the summer.
“Ongoing storage of the boat during the offseason and routine maintenance will have to be included in our budget as we move forward,” Huddleston said.
