With strong gusts of wind pushing out onto the water, frigid water temperatures and deep-water currents, sailing on Lake Tahoe is as tough as sailing anywhere in the world, said Mike Levin, who lives in Tahoma, on Tahoe’s west shore. The winds pick up in the afternoons and sweep down broad canyons, and unsuspecting boaters or swimmers can get caught unaware. 

The afternoon of July 16 started out like any other. Levin, an experienced 72-year-old sailor, had set sail from Tahoma, stopping for 10 or 15 minutes to fix something that had broken on his boat as he coasted down the west shore. He was heading south toward Meeks Bay, and had just rounded the corner to Ed Z’berg Sugar Pine Point State Park, when a call came in over the radio: The Coast Guard reported that someone had fallen off a Jet Ski, near Obexer’s marina in Homewood, and had gone missing. 

Levin turned his boat around and headed north toward Homewood, in the direction of the missing person. Helping people who are stranded on the water is an unwritten rule in the maritime community. As Levin neared Homewood, the wind picked up with stronger gusts, and white caps pushed across Lake Tahoe. “It got a little sportier out there,” he said. 

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Jet Skis on Lake Tahoe at sunset.

Amid the crashing waves and rough water, about 2.5 to 3 miles offshore, Levin spotted an arm rise up out of the water directly in front of his boat. It was the missing Jet Skier. 

“It’s a big lake, with just a little arm sticking up. I mean, we both got lucky,” Levin said.

Days earlier, on July 11, a California man who was swimming on Tahoe’s east shore drowned. And another tragic drowning occurred in Lake Tahoe later that month, on July 27, at Sand Harbor. About seven people drown in Lake Tahoe every year, on average. 

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While fatalities make headlines in Lake Tahoe, much less is known about the many close calls. 

Water rescues are a regular occurrence in Lake Tahoe throughout the summer, said Kyle Parker, spokesperson for the El Dorado County Sheriff’s Office, which responds to search and rescue calls on the water in Lake Tahoe, Folsom Lake, Union Valley Reservoir........

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