After a daylong search, the Maine Warden Service recovered the body of a Waldoboro man in Damariscotta Lake on Jan. 14.
Timothy York, 45, was last seen leaving the clubhouse of the Snowcrawlers in Waldoboro on his snowmobile around 9:30 p.m. on Jan. 13 en route to a friend’s house in Nobleboro. He was reported missing around 9 a.m. the next morning, and the Warden Service recovered his body and his snowmobile in Damariscotta Lake in an area know as “The Narrows” around 4:20 p.m. that afternoon.
The Warden Service was assisted by the Jefferson, Newcastle, and Nobleboro fire departments, and by the Waldoboro Police.
According to those who knew York, he was an experienced snowmobile rider and knew the trails around the lake well, but it appears he simply miscalculated how thick the ice was.
The Warden’s Service said the ice is particularly thin this year, due to warmer than usual temperatures recently.
“It’s kind of pass-at-your-own-risk in the snowmobile world,” said friend and fellow Snowcrawler member Jason Blackler. “Usually all the trails interconnect without going on the lake, but being locals, we know all the shortcuts – and that might involve zipping down the lake.”
When York was reported missing, close friends and members of the Snowcrawlers searched the usual trails in the area York was riding.
“That morning, everybody was out of work and looking for him,” Blackler said.
Blackler and his uncle, Mark Blackler, found York’s helmet on the ice.
“We were riding down the lake towards Camp Kieve, and we were about to head home, but something caught our eyes,” Jason Blackler said.
This area became the focus of the search, and York’s sled was spotted under the water by a Warden Service aircraft.
While Warden Service personnel and volunteers searched the shoreline and surrounding area, an airboat and a dive team were brought in to search the water.
Jefferson had an airboat standing by, but they were not called down to the scene until 12:30 p.m., and then only to provide backup. The Warden service brought in their own airboat from Bridgton.
“If I was on the Warden Service, I would have treated it like it was one of my good friends who was out there,” Blackler said. He said he was frustrated by the lack of urgency in the search.
“Until you get involved in these searches you don’t understand the risks,” said Sgt. Mark Warren who was on scene for the Warden Service. “If we’re not careful, then I have to tell another person that there was a tragedy on the lake.”
Warren said the Jefferson airboat is smaller than the Warden Service boat and doesn’t have a protective hull. The extra size and thicker hull make the search safer and easier for the dive crew.
“The urgency didn’t exist for us to take unnecessary risk in the way we searched the water,” Warren said. “We focused on the land because we knew that if he was in the water, he had been there for more than 12 hours.”
It doesn’t appear that York could have been saved, but the length of the search was understandably frustrating to his friends and family, who say they have lost a good friend and great man.
“He’d pretty much do anything for you,” Blackler said. York loaned Blackler a brand new motorcycle when he got married two summers ago.
“He had just bought this brand new Harley touring bike and my bike was more of a one-person bike,” Black said.
Blackler and his wife were taking a motorcycle trip for their honeymoon, and had planned on renting a bike.
“[York] said, ‘I heard a rumor you were renting a motorcycle. You don’t need to do that, I got one up at the house you can borrow.’ It was a $30,000 brand new bike and he just gave it to us to take on our honeymoon. That’s the kid of guy he was.”
A celebration of his life will be held at 2 p.m., Jan. 20, at Hall Funeral Home in Waldoboro.
