On Saturday June 4, 2011, at approximately 12:30 am, I received a phone call from the Comal County Sheriff’s Office Dispatch informing me of a boat accident that occurred at approximately 10:30 pm that same evening, Friday June 3, 2011, at the Canyon Lake Marina involving one boat and two occupants, with no injuries, and damage to the single boat.  

Upon arrival at the marina, I made contact with the operator of the boat also the owner of the boat, who had already trailered his boat and was waiting for me in the parking lot to the marina.  He stated that at approximately 10:00 pm, that same evening, he was approaching the entrance to the Canyon Marina no-wake zone.  In front of him was a large houseboat entering the no-wake zone as well, so his intention was to make a run down the heavy equipment tires and loop around for another attempt to enter the marina.  He further stated that when he was about half way down the tires he looked up and noticed a light in front of him and immediately executed an evasive maneuver to the right in order to avoid striking the light.  Operator stated that he thought there was a boat in front of him fishing without his lights on and that caused him to make this evasive maneuver.  Operator also stated that right after this accident, the boat that he described as a low profile bass boat with a seat up in front of the bow, and a single occupant, immediately fled the scene.  

I asked Operator if he would volunteer a written statement, and after he completed his statement, I took photographs of the damage to the boat and then released Operator from the scene, and went back in service.  

I began my investigation of this boat accident by finding and interviewing witnesses to this accident, locating the point of impact on the tires, taking photographs of the tires, taking measurements of the marks left on the tires by the lower units to Operator’s boat, acquiring GPS coordinates of the accident area, and then transferring this information to an overhead satellite photograph of the accident area to try and reconstruct the accident scene.  

According to two witnesses, who were seated in a boat located in slip #E-30, which is in direct view of the tires, and one witness who was seated at the restaurant above the marina, Operator was operating his boat at a high rate of speed in complete darkness in a straight line with the tires, and when he was close to the “T” junction of the marina, he hit the tires, went inside of the tires, and then hit the tires again on the way back out to open water.  These witnesses assert that there was no other boat in the area when this accident occurred, and did not witness or hear any boat leave the scene immediately after this accident.  The witness who was driving the houseboat also asserted that he did not witness or hear any other boat leave the scene of the accident.  

Based upon the results of my investigation derived from interviewing the operator of the boat and interviewing eyewitnesses to the accident, and locating the evidence at the accident site, I can conclude that indeed a boat traveling in a northward direction struck the heavy equipment tires, which are chained together and used as a breakwater, just outside of the Canyon Lake Marina.  The wind that night was blowing from the south and had blown the two strands of tires in this area, that are attached to three winches anchored to the lakebed, away from the marina in a large semi circular arc.  The boat struck the chain of tires on the west side, went over the tires thus tearing off all three outboard lower units, proceeded inside of the break water as a result of the momentum of the boat, and then struck the chain of tires again on the inside, going over the tires again, and leaving the boat adrift in the cove just west of the marina.  I can conclude that the boat hit the tires in a path that was parallel.

Canyon City                   