On 06/16/2011 Utah Lake experienced very high winds up to 50 mph which caused 6-8 feet waves.  During this operator was operating his boat with 10 passengers about 2 miles west of Provo Bay.  They were tubing when the waves started picking up.  When the waves started entering the boat he sought shelter in Provo Bay.  The boat ended up drifting into the reeds and because of weather conditions he was unable to get to a marina.  The children and his wife started getting very cold.   All of the Utah Lake Park Rangers were called as well as Utah County Search and Rescue.  Myself and Ranger responded on the 24ft Boston Whaler.  We were first ordered to a different rescue a different boat but were unable to access it because of shallow depths.  We then responded to Operator's location.  The search and rescue plane had finally been able to direct responders on PWCs and smaller watercraft to Operator's boat in the reeds.  Ranger and I located the rescuers on scene and the smaller watercraft started loading children and Operator on to our boat.  We ended up with 7 victims on our boat.  The rest were taken by other rescuers to a different location where ambulances met them.  Ranger and I took our victims back to Utah Lake State Park which was the closest marina, the waves had calmed to about 3 feet and we felt that going through some waves was the best decision rather than try getting as close to shore as we could in Provo Bay and having the victims put back on different watercraft and shuttled the rest of the way in.  We wrapped the children in blankets and gave them heat packs to hold and put on their cores.  The children did all start to warm up on the way back to Utah Lake State Park.  Operator declined any medical attention and said that he was fine.  Once back at the marina Provo Fire and Ambulance met us and took the children in the ambulances to be checked out for hypothermia.  

The next morning I went back to the scene and retrieved the boat.  It appeared to have sustained no damage. I towed it back to Utah Lake State Park and notified Operator. He took his boat later that day from the dock.

Provo                         