PORT CLINTON

The U.S. Coast Guard recovered the body of a missing boater from Lake Erie just north of Port Clinton on Monday. 

Gregory H. Shaw, 64, of Dublin, disappeared Saturday afternoon after a large wave swept him away from the sailboat he was captaining.

At about 6:50 a.m. Monday, a passing boater found Shaw’s body floating about a mile north of Port Clinton and called the U.S. Coast Guard Station at Marblehead.

The Coast Guard turned Shaw’s body over to the Ottawa County Sheriff, while the Lucas County Coroner will do an autopsy. 

The Ottawa County Sheriff’s office is still investigating the incident.

Shaw recently sold his 26-foot 1981 AMF Paceship sailboat and took the new owner’s nephew, Kelly M. Russell, 23, and the nephew’s mother, Elizabeth J. Russell, 56, both of Wooster, for a ride on the lake Saturday morning. 

That afternoon, the wind picked up to 15 to 20 knots and waves were at 3 to 5 feet. 

Shaw decided to lower the sails and steer the boat back to harbor using the vessel’s motor, authorities said. 

As he lowered the jib — the large, colorful front sail — a line attached to the sail slipped under the boat and tangled in the propellor, stalling the motor. 

Shaw slipped into the water with a knife to cut the line, but was swept away. He was not wearing a life jacket. 

Kelly called 911 at 1:43 p.m. and urgently asked for help as the boat — about a mile from shore — drifted away from the lost captain. 

The U.S. Coast Guard responded with two boats and a helicopter. The Ottawa County Sheriff’s Department, Port Clinton Police Marine Patrol, and Port Clinton, Lakeside and Catawba Island Township fire departments also joined the search for the missing boater. 

“He’s floating away,” Kelly yelled over the wind at the 911 dispatcher. “We need someone out here now.”

The agencies suspended their search at 12:24 a.m. Sunday after they found no sign of Shaw. A commercial towing service towed the hobbled sailboat back to Brands Marina in Port Clinton.

Kelly said Shaw was a tire salesman in Dublin who once taught flying at The Ohio State University’s Department of Aviation.  

A Vietnam War veteran, Shaw didn’t have many family members. He was a long-time sailor who has owned several sailboats. 

“He was a really great guy,” Kelly said. 

To read the breaking news post from this story, click here. 

To hear the audio from the 911 call, click here.