On 8/9/09 Conservation Officer 1 found out from the T.V. and newspaper that there had been a single personnel watercraft occurrence on the Cedar River between Waterloo and Gilbertville. Upon investigation Officer 1 found that Operator 1 put his PWC in at Deerwood Park boat ramp in Evansdale, Iowa and headed south on the Cedar River heading for Vinton, Iowa. Operator 1 had two passengers one was Passenger 1 and her 7 year old son Passenger 2 on the PWC. When Operator 1 was operating the PWC on the Cedar River he said he was going 43 miles per hour down the river and he observed a group of tubers south of him on the river so he operated the PWC to the right side of the river outside of the river channel to get far enough away from the tubers. Once Operator 1 got outside of the channel he struck a rock or shallow area at 43 miles per hour and all three people the Operator 1, Passenger 1 and Passenger 2 were thrown to the right side of the PWC and the PWC continued to the left toward the river channel. Either upon impact with the water or with part of the PWC Operator 1 broke both his tibia and fibula in his right leg. The passengers Passenger 1 and Passenger 2 were not injured in the occurrence. Operator 1 was transported to Allen hospital where he was treated for a broken leg.
Upon further investigation, Officer 1 determined that all the safety gear requirements were met and Operator 1, Passenger 1 and Passenger 2 were wearing their life jackets at the time of the occurrence. The PWC was also properly registered and numbered to be on the water. Officer 1 also determined that there was no involvement of alcohol use in this PWC occurrence.

 The PWC occurrence had the three main contributing factors first high rate of speed that Operator 1 was operating PWC on the river, the second factor was the low river water levels and the third factor was amount of users on the water. These were the three main factors contributing to the PWC occurrence determined from the investigation.

 In conclusion Operator 1 was operating too fast to see the obstruction that he hit when he was trying to avoid getting to close to the group of tubers on the Cedar River.
Waterloo                      