J.D. Detsch was enjoying a casual day on the lakes Aug. 13 with his family, cruising the Portage Lakes on a pontoon boat.

But for a few minutes, a day of leisure became a lot like a busy day at the fire station for the Coventry Township Fire Department firefighter paramedic.

As Detsch and family members enjoyed each others’ company on the pontoon boat, they rounded a bend, he said.

“We came around the corner by the yacht club,” Detsch said in a phone interview on Thursday. “Some random man was waving me down.”

On shore, the man called out to Detsch, pointing out a group of young women in the water. Two of the women had overturned their kayaks and were clinging to their friends’ watercrafts. Neither was wearing a life jacket.

“Can you make sure they’re OK?” the man called.

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Detsch assessed the situation, which didn’t appear life-threatening, although the young women were in a bind and needed assistance. Their friends were clustered around them in nearby kayaks.

“Obviously, the first thing (was) to get these people out of the water...,” Detsch said. “Once they got on the boat, I jumped in and swam the kayaks over to the boat.”

He drained the waterlogged kayaks and had the women put on life jackets.

“It seemed like they hadn’t spent a lot of time kayaking,” Detsch said. “They probably would have just sat there until somebody came to help them. I think they would have had a hard time paddling them to shore.”

As boating has become more popular on the Portage Lakes, kayaking activity has followed suit. It’s a national trend that has played out on the waters of the state park, with the tide of new boaters rising rapidly during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Unfortunately, not all new boaters — and kayakers — know the rules of the lakes or take the time to get familiar with their watercrafts.

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Most kayakers, unlike the unfortunate ones that overturned Aug. 13, wear a life jacket while they paddle along. A 2019 study compiled for the U.S. Coast Guard found 78% of kayakers do wear a life jacket, the highest rate in nearly two decades.

But the 1 in 5 who don’t wear a personal flotation device can find themselves in awkward situations, like the Portage Lakes kayakers on that Saturday. Sometimes, the danger is greater.

Coast Guard statistics show kayaks accounted for 15% of U.S. boating accident deaths in 2020, second behind open motorboats. Operator inexperience ranked fourth for the cause of injuries among all boaters.

In 2020, 112 kayakers died in the U.S., 95 of them by drowning. Boating deaths overall rose to 767, the highest recorded this century, with 25 of those deaths in Ohio waters.

By all appearances, the Portage Lake kayakers weren’t in any danger of drowning, Detsch said, but their day on the lake would have been much more pleasant and safe with a few precautions.

“My biggest recommendation (is to) make sure you’re wearing a personal flotation device,” he said. “Get used to paddling around before you go out amongst the boats. They all make some kind of wake.”

In the decade since he moved to the Portage Lakes area, Detsch said the lakes’ popularity has steadily increased.

“When I moved down here, it was a little hidden place,” he said. “... A lot of people don’t understand the rules.”

He said by familiarizing yourself with those rules and educating yourself on the water craft you’re using can help avoid a lot of headaches.

“If you’re new, it doesn’t hurt to go with someone with experience,” he said.

Leave a message for Alan Ashworth at 330-996-3859 or email him at aashworth@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @newsalanbeaconj.