At about 1500 hours on 7/31/2010, I received a call from RICH dispatch regarding the need to take a boating accident report at Performance Rental, just north of the marina.  I responded via patrol boat from the Ideal Beach area.

When I arrived on scene, I was directed by an employee to two PWC's on a trailer just above the top of the launch ramp.  I viewed the damage to the two PWC's and then located two of the three people involved.

I recognized the people as people I had stopped at @ 1400 hours for a speed in proximity violation.  I observed operator2 spray subject.  As I approached to stop operator2, I observed subject spray operator1.  I opted to cite subject for speed in proximity and warned subject for allowing operator2 to operate underage without education certificate.  I also warned operator2 for speed in proximity and terminated his voyage.  They said their rental time expired at 2 p.m.

operator1 described his operating activities as cruising and trying to jump the wake of a passing boat.  operator2, younger brother to operator1, was operating his PWC slightly behind and to the right of operator1's PWC.  As operator1 passed the boat, he began to turn to his left.  He then realized the boat was towing a tube.  operator1 then made a sharp turn to the right and was slowing to a stop.  operator2 admitted he was following to close behind his brother, particularly after he was informed of the speed in proximity requirement.

When operator2 saw operator1 turn his PWC in front of the path of his PWC, he tried to turn to his left to avoid a collision.  He was not able to avoid a collision.

All three persons indicated that the collision occurred about an hour before I witnessed them spraying each other at 1400 hours.

In my opinion, operator2 was the primary person at fault in the accident, not only for being an underage operator without an education certificate, but also because he was not able to operate his PWC at a safe speed and distance to avoid a collision.
Garden City                   