A man from Albany was saved from possibly drowning in Lake George earlier this month by a Tiki Tours charter carrying seven Catholic priests from the Paulist Fathers.

Jimmy Macdonald, a former amateur boxer who now is a drug treatment counselor, was kayaking along the shore just north of Lake George Village when things started to go badly.

“I was meditating and taking photos and I drifted away from my family,” he told Glens Falls Living. “My wife and two stepkids had taken kayaks out, and I didn’t think I needed the life vest so I kept it in the boat.

“The water was kind of rough that day, and when I tried to get back to my family, I couldn’t make any progress and the kayak kind of tipped over. A couple of people went by me and asked if I needed help, but I had too much pride to ask for help. But then I realized the shore was too far away and I didn’t have any confidence that I would get to shore. So I held onto the boat, with my new $1,400 cellphone in my hand. I wasn’t going to lose that. I was just trying to stay afloat.

“I thought I was going to die. I was absolutely powerless and wished I had asked for help earlier. I was waving my hand and asked God to please help me. I seriously thought I was going to drown. And then, out of the corner of my eye, I saw the Tiki boat.”

Tiki Tours captain Greg Barrett said, “I noticed the paddle about 20 feet from the kayak. There was a strong south wind, and I blew my horn to get his attention. It looked like he was floundering.

“One of the priests heard him yell help, and then I noticed his life preserver was not fitted properly and was up around his neck.

“So Deb Oliveira, our new deckhand on her first day of work, and four of the priests scooped him up onto the bow of the boat. His eyes were the size of silver dollars.”

Jimmy said, “I was so exhausted, I barely could swim to the boat. Deb grabbed my cellphone and then grabbed my hand, and she and the priests pulled me up. They saved my life.”

When he got onboard, he said that he had been sober for seven years, and thought it was ironic that he was rescued by a Tiki boat, which is essentially a floating bar.

“A bar on the water saved my life,” Jimmy said, laughing. “But no one was drinking. It was all priests.

“It was all a bit traumatizing, but I trust that maybe it happened for a reason. I’ve since told the story to others that just like getting sober, I couldn’t do it on my own and trying to fix things myself almost cost me my life until I admitted I was powerless and asked for help.”

Captain Barrett said the priests said a prayer for him, followed by a robust “Amen.”

“Then Jimmy told us he was a recovering heroin addict, so not only was it ironic that he was saved by a Tiki boat, but he was saved by seven priests! It was divine intervention!”

Captain Barrett said the rescue also helped him deal with a past trauma.

“I told Jimmy that by me helping him, he helped me,” he said. “It really is a great story. With everything going on, sometimes good news is needed.”

Jimmy said, “I urge everyone to wear their lifejackets, test them before they go out, and not to go alone. My hope is this story prevents further incidents.”

And in Other News…

Honoring Milk & Honey Owner Ann Parrish

Merchants in downtown Glens Falls will honor Milk & Honey owner Ann Parrish with special discounts on Friday, August 28. “Say the secret words "Milk and Honey" for a surprise deal at participating locations,” said press materials.

“This special shopping day is in honor of Ann Parrish, the proprietor of Milk & Honey, who opened her store at 16 Exchange Street in 2003, back when she was one of only three shops downtown. She is retiring at the end of the month, and the community wants to honor her for her many years of dedication, hard work, and vision that helped make Downtown Glens Falls what it is today.”

Brant Lake Bike Park Expansion is a Go!

A Kickstarter campaign to finish the mountain bike trails above The Hub in Brant Lake was successful, raising $26,333 from 230 backers!

“I'm blown away at the generosity of all of the backers,” owner Drew Cappabianca said in a social media post. “$25,000 was a big goal but that what it takes to get the professionally built machine flow trail that everybody loves. I based the feasibility of achieving the goal on a large number of small donations, but we ended up with relatively few donations from very generous people. The generosity of donations from people that don't ride or live here is equally as astounding. Thank you all again for making this dream come true for the community.”

The final build phase will include “machine-building a new mile of single track, re-routing Constellation to include more machine-built single track, and making machine-built improvements to Stairway To Heaven.

“Part of the funding is going to match a grant from the Northern Forest Center to conduct a feasibility study on a trail connecting Brant Lake to the Starbuckville Dam, with the ultimate goal of connecting Brant Lake and Chestertown,” he said. “This may be the last phase of trail building at BLBP, but I'm far from done advocating for future trail development.”

Mr. Cappabianca started The Hub in 2014. “It’s like a ski lodge or golf clubhouse, but for cycling,” is how he describes it.

In 2016, he bought the 200-plus acres directly behind The Hub. The Brant Lake Bike Park opened in June 2018, with more than three miles of trails.

Virginia Woman Becomes First To Hike All 46 High Peaks In One Attempt

Alyssa Godesky, a professional triathlete and ultra-running coach from Virginia, set a new Adirondack 46er record, hiking all 46 High Peaks in 88 hours and 16 minutes. Glens Falls Living wrote about her plans last week.

She told Spectrum News that the most difficult part was finding the best route, even if it included some bushwhacking.

Godesky started her hike at 4 a.m. on Monday, Aug. 17, and finished at 8 p.m. on Thursday, Aug. 20. She said she slept 11 hours over the four-day journey.

Sarah Keyes of Saranac Lake, a nurse at Adirondack Health, also completed the hike all 46 High Peaks, finishing in 118 hours. She told Glens Falls Living that injuries hampered her effort.

“The extensors in my right foot, which help with stability on uneven terrain, started to bother me on the second day,” she said. “Downhill became excruciating on day 3 and very slow. It was frustrating as I am normally a strong downhill technical runner but was slowed to a crawl, literally at times. Otherwise it was a great adventure, I'd say 90% enjoyable!”