On August 7th, 2011 at 1300 hours (est) Operator (owner and operator) launched his vessel at Cave Rock boat ramp.  There were five people on the vessel when he got underway.  He proceeded to the Zephyr Cove Marina where he took on four additional passengers.  He then proceeded north to the area of Whale Beach stopping once for a brief (undetermined) period.  
At approximately 1630 hours the boat was drifting between 25 and 50'' offshore, with the boat pointing shoreward the wind was from the stern.  One of the passengers noticed that a wave had come over the transom.  She said something about it to Operator who either did not hear or disregarded her.  A second wave broke over the transom and she again said something to Operator.  He had been in the forward seating area and moved to the operator''s position.  He put the boat into reverse which caused several more waves to break over the transom.  At one point he turned the boat away from shore, eastward.  By then there was so much water in the boat it was almost unresponsive to the controls.  The boat began listing sternward and to port.  Some of the occupants jumped into the water and the boat capsized.
Witnesses onshore had seen that the vessel was in danger and had been yelling at Operator to drive the boat to the beach to prevent it from sinking/capsizing but he did not hear or ignored them.  The witnesses onshore ensured everyone from Operator''s boat made it to shore and began helping him secure it to prevent it from drifting into the lake.  They soon realized the boat was grounded, the ski tower being wedged into the sand.  Several witnesses onshore said that no flotaion devices drifted to shore.  A witness collected an empty bottle of rum that he was sure came from the boat.  One of the passengers confirmed that the bottle had been onboard and Operator had been drinking from it.
On August 8th, I went to the accident location.  I saw that Operator had contracted with a salvage company that had raised, righted and taken the boat to the beach.  Operator''s boat was just leaving the beach being towed by another boat.  While his boat was being towed to Cave Rock, Operator got onto my boat and wrote a statement.  He claimed that he had been trying to set his anchor when a couple waves came over the side and the boat took on so much water that it capsized.  He also claimed that the bilge pump had not been working during the accident, but it was working that day.
From talking to witnesses, passengers and reading their statements, I determined that there were several causes of the accident.  The vessel''s safe  capacity was seven and there had been nine people on board.  Operator was negligent in operating the vessel, letting it get to an unsafe distance from shore in light of the water /weather conditions and he failed to recognize the seriousness of the situation even after being told by a passenger and people onshore.
I inspected the vessel after it had been recovered and was on the trailer at Cave Rock.  There were only four life jackets on board and they were in a closed and latched compartment.  (I had insisted Operator put a life jacket on when he got onto my boat and I had seen him reach into the same compartment to retrieve it)  There was not a type IV PFD on board.   


Glenbrook                     