BENZIE COUNTY, MI - For the past three weeks, family and friends of 21-year-old Tyler Spink have been combing the area where he was last seen, hoping to bring his body home.

Spink and a friend were kayaking Monday, Sept. 5 in Lake Michigan near Platte Bay, off the shores of Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, when the two kayaks capsized. His friend was rescued. Spink has not been found.

The tragedy has the family pushing for better beach signage about the dangers of open water, and tougher laws requiring kayakers to wear life jackets on the big lake. Currently, kayakers must have a personal flotation device with them while paddling.

One of Tyler's older sisters, Kirsten Spink, 23, of Rapid City, said Tyler and his friend, Josh Paris, had paddled down the Platte around noon that day and had entered Lake Michigan's open water. It was then they began to struggle in rough conditions.

After the kayaks capsized and the men were trying to make their way toward shore, Tyler Spink tried to call 911, but there was no cell phone reception and the calls did not go through, the family later learned.

Continuing to fight the currents, the two friends lost sight of each other. They kept calling out, back and forth, to make sure the other person was OK.

"Josh said Tyler was the reason he kept going," Kirsten Spink said. "Tyler said, 'We got this, bud. We got it. We'll make it.'"

Eventually, Tyler Spink stopped responding to his friend's calls and Paris began screaming for help. A fisherman who heard the screams was able to rescue him about 9 p.m.

Since Spink went missing, his belongings have washed up on shore. A tube of Chapstick he'd bought the morning of the trip. His kayak. His personal flotation device, which was in the kayak but not on him.

"It was hard at times - items had been washing up - and frustrating, but also encouraging because we feel like we should be able to find him," Kirsten Spink said.

In an effort to make a change and raise money for funeral costs, Kirsten set up a GoFundMe page, detailing the experience Tyler and Josh went through. A Facebook page has also been set up for his search.

More than a third of the $15,000 goal has been raised.

Kirstin Spink said her family wants to see more safety protections required for kayakers. While her brother had been kayaking many times in a river near their home, he was inexperienced in open water and didn't have a life jacket during that trip, only a flotation device stashed in the kayak.

She said the family would like to see signage at places like Platte Point at Lake Michigan, explaining the dangers of open water.

"My mom wants to look into requiring life jackets, at least in open water," Kirsten Spink said. "We want to make a difference and we don't want his name forgotten."

Her family has been humbled by the kindness of friends, and even strangers, who have been helping to look for her brother's body, but it's still frustrating they haven't been able to find him.

Signs have been put up around the area, asking people to contact Benzie Central Dispatch if he is seen.

"We want this to come to an end and prevent any other family from having to go through this," she said. "Until then we wont be able to give up, for lack of a better word."