On November 3, 2013 at approximately 16:45 operator was operating his 1947 model Century wooden boat upstream on Lake Rabun in the area of the narrows across from boathouse.  As Operator1 rounded the bend in a right hand curve, the sunlight began to shine directly into his eyes making it extremely difficult to see the water and he struck a tree that was floating in the lake.  As the boat stuck the end of the tree it  knocked a large hole in the bottom right side of the boat.   Part of the tree was tied up to the shoreline and the other end was sticking out into the water.  Operator1 said that the boat immediately began taking on water and began to sink.  He said that he turned the boat and headed straight to boathouse.  While he was doing so, the personal floatation devices began to float in their boat.  His occupant and himself put on the PFD's and had to swim to the dock as the boat sank out from underneath them.  subject jumped into the lake and assisted them to the dock.  Operator1 said that he marked the boat where it sank and later made several phone calls to the Department of Natural Resources, Rabun County Sheriff's Office, Georgia Power, Mountain Patrol,  and Lakemont Marine about the incident. He also stated that no one was injured.  A diagram and a witness statement from Operator1 are included under attachments.  The region 2 boat incident number is 2013-030.
TIGER