Fishtown Preservation
  • Email
  • Facebook
  • RSS
  • Home
  • Events
    • Fishtown 5K – 2021
    • Giving Tuesday ~ Dec 1, 2020
    • Heritage Festival / Community Day of Giving
    • Love Fishtown Month
  • Visit | Stay
    • Shanties
    • Fish Tugs
    • Charters & Shops
    • Fishtown Vacation Rental
    • Photo Galleries
    • Our Community
    • Directions and Map
  • About
    • Fishtown Board
    • Fishtown Staff
    • Internships
    • FAQs
    • Our Partners
    • Fishtown Newsletters
    • Water Levels Q&A
    • News from Fishtown
    • Media / Press Coverage
  • Support
    • Donate to Fishtown
    • Campaign for Fishtown
    • Become an Anchor
    • Our Business Anchors
    • Get Involved
    • Commercial Fishing Today and Q & A
  • Shop
  • Fishtown Forever
  • Contact
Navigation
Search the site...
  • Home
  • Fishing
  • The Rescue of Niko Economides

The Rescue of Niko Economides

November 8, 2010 / Fishtown / Fishing, History
0

Ross Lang and Brian Price

When he decided to test himself, Niko Economides turned to the Great Lakes. He was eighteen, and had just left home. “I intended to face danger,” he said, “and push the limit of my abilities.” That’s how he found himself in a sixteen-foot wood and canvas canoe in the Manitou Passage, four miles from shore, when the storm hit.

It was the summer of 1983. Niko had grown up on the shore of Lake Michigan and knew how to sail before he could ride a bicycle, and he was determined to create for himself a rite of passage – a perilous canoe trip from Saugatuck, southwest of Grand Rapids on Lake Michigan’s eastern shoreline, to Lake Superior’s northern shore in Canada. His father helped him to restore an old canoe, and his mother gave him a dog, a little border collie named Ahnee. She knew, he said, “I wouldn’t go out in the rough weather, to protect the dog.”

The night before, foul weather had driven Niko and Ahnee to shore, and they “hunkered down,” as he said, at Pyramid Point in the Sleeping Bear Dunes. The next morning the weather seemed to have cleared enough so he loaded his gear, and he and Ahnee set out on the direct route to Leland, across ten miles of open water. Halfway across, he glanced back over his shoulder. The storm had returned, and was gaining.

Ross Lang and Brian PriceThat morning, the fish tug Joy had departed Fishtown at six o’clock to pull nets on the other side of Sleeping Bear Point. Aboard were captain Ross Lang and crewman Brian Price. The weather was rough, and after pushing through two rounds of thunderstorms, they sighted the first waterspout. It’s not such a great day to work, they told each other, and turned back toward home.

In the canoe, Niko had dropped his sea anchor and gotten as low in the canoe as he could. The swells were running high, and foam streaked the waters. In the distance towered a waterspout. He lost sight of the horizon, gray water merging into gray sky – until he noticed a small green blur. As he watched, the green blur grew larger and larger, until he could see it was a fishing boat, named Joy.

“You’re not used to seeing canoeists out,” Brian remembered, “especially when the weather is starting to go crappy. But we saw this kid and this dog, and we thought we’d better stop and find out what the story is.”

Niko, as Brian recalled during a chance encounter many years later, was at first reluctant to get out of his canoe. “You didn’t want to mess with your canoe trip,” Brian said. “But we felt sorry for the dog.” Niko eventually agreed to come aboard. “The dog was happy to get on the boat with us,” Brian said. “You were less so. She had more sense.” Just as Niko’s mother had intended.

“And it was wonderful,” Niko admitted. “Anyway, thanks for picking me up, because I might be dead now.”

Niko and Ahnee did make it to Canada. “Of course I made mistakes,” Niko says, “but I do not regret any of them. I have many memories of the trip which have become like navigation aids to me during difficult times.”

Nick Economides and Brian PriceNiko continues to live a life on the Great Lakes waters. Years later he embarked on another odyssey, sailing with his son Thanos and wife Jill on the restored 1933 schooner Coaster?II from Portland, Maine, down the Atlantic seaboard, up the Hudson River, and across the Erie Canal and through three Great Lakes to its current home port of Marquette, Michigan. Today his family runs sailing cruises and charters as Superior Odyssey. Brian Price, no longer a fisherman, today is executive director of the Leelanau Conservancy, protecting the lands and waters of Leelanau County.

Niko no longer has that old canoe. “An old guy was walking by where I had the canoe stored, and he said, ‘Boy, I’d love to fix that up,'” Niko explained. “I wanted to fix it up, but I just felt like I should just give it to him. So I did.”

Niko recently brought his son to Fishtown to see the fish tug that had rescued him. “I have this warm little feeling about the Joy,” he said. “I see it’s still in the water, and I just think, ‘There’s the Joy. They picked me up by Leland.’ It’s good.”

fishtown's legacies, newsletter

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

How to Reach Us

Fishtown Preservation
Office location and hours
203 E. Cedar Street
P.O. Box 721
Leland, MI 49654M-F 9:00-4:00 (year-round)
(231) 256-8878
(231) 256-2517 (fax)
[email protected]
Facebook.com/FishtownMI

You Make the Difference

With your help, we're preserving the past and the present of Fishtown. Please contribute today.

Our Business Anchors

  • Shady Lane Market

    Shady Lane Market is a one-of-a-kind, convenience store/gas station located between Suttons Bay and Traverse City on M-22....

  • Venture Properties

    Venture Properties offers you one of the best search sites in northern Michigan. Search for homes, condos, and vacant land. ...

  • Art’s Tavern

    If you know Glen Arbor, then you know Art's......

  • Leland gal

    Leland gal is art driven textiles, made in the USA, inspired by my hometown of Leland, Michigan....

  • The Bead Hut

    The Bead Hut shanty is located on the docks in Historic Fishtown, Leland....

  • Dam Candy Store

    The Dam Candy Store is located in Fishtown — featuring a variety of favorite candies, and ice cream. ...

  • Ken Scott Photography

    Ken Scott Phototgraphy features photos of Lower NW Michigan, Leelanau, Sleeping Bear Dune National Lakeshore and beyond....

  • Long’s Furniture World and Mattress

    Long’s Furniture World in Franklin, Indiana, offers a wide selection of both traditional and modern furniture and high quality mattresses....

  • Haystacks

    Haystacks Brand Clothing and Accessories are designed, cut, and sewn at our Design Studio in Suttons Bay, Michigan...

  • Northern Latitudes Distillery

    Leelanau's first full service small batch distillery!...

  • Reelin’ Leland

    Fishing charters aboard the Leelanautical....

  • Bonek Agency

    Independent insurance agency operating and licensed to do business in Michigan....

  • Thomas & Milliken Millworks

    Thomas & Milliken Millwork has been producing quality custom moulding, doors and stair parts since 1977....

  • The Cove

    The Cove serves lunch and dinner daily. Call 231-256-9834 for dinner reservations....

  • Green Goodness

    An array of Earth friendly products for women, baby, body and home....

  • Leland Mercantile Co.

    Leland Mercantile is a full-line grocery store....

  • Tug Stuff

    Tug Stuff: The World of Tug....

  • Leland Chamber of Commerce

    The Leland Chamber of Commerce promotes economic growth and stability in the extended Leland community. ...

  • At The Lake

    Our goal is to provide you with a unique collection of fun products....

  • Van’s Garage

    Shining as a gem from a bygone age, Van's Garage stands apart as a true original....

  • Tampico

    Sterling Silver jewelry is our specialty, featuring our Petoskey Stone, Leland Blue and Beach Glass & much more....

  • Becky Thatcher Designs

    Becky Thatcher has been crafting exquisite, handmade jewelry for over three decades....

  • Two Fish Leland

    Discover authentic art, uplifting gifts and an uncommon experience at Two Fish Gallery, Two Fish II and Two Fish Stay....

  • Pete Miller, Attorney

    For twenty-five years Pete Miller has been representing businesses and individuals in real estate and business transactions....

  • Diversions

    As our name implies we are more than just a hat store. ...

  • Tamarack Gallery

    Providing a showcase for fine art, outsider and folk art, and crafts, located in historic Omena....

(c) 2013 Fishtown Preservation - Web Design by History By Design and Alyeska.
  • Log In
  • Sitemap
  • Archives
  • FAQ
  • Contact Us