On june 24, 2012 around 9:30am, Operator1 had driven the starboard side of the boat up to the mountain creek marina dock for fueling.  There were 4 passengers on board the pontoon other than Operator1.  After fueling, Operator1 was operating the pontoon and was trying to turn the vessel around and head away from the dock back into the open water on lake norman.  Operator1 was going forward and trying to turn the port side of the vessel around away from the other boats.  At this time he was still going forward and he tried to pull the throttle back to change direction so that he would miss hitting the docked vessels.  At this time the throttle became stuck in the forward position.  He then was trying to pull the throttle to the neutral position.  By the time Operator1 got the throttle back to the neutral position he was headed straight towards the port side of vessel 2.  He then tried to put the throttle in reverse but the motor had cut off.  He did not have time to start the motor up before the front starboard side of his vessel hit vessel 2.  According to statements made by the staff at mountain creek marina, the passengers on board the pontoon tried to hold off the pontoon as it collided with the sea ray. The staff also stated that the motor on the pontoon turned off when Operator1 pulled the throttle back to change direction of the pontoon so that it would not hit any of the boats.  The staff stated that they believed the accident was caused by the throttle sticking.  The sea ray was tied to the dock with the starboard side of the vessel against the dock.  At the time of the accident, the sea ray was not occupied and the owner was not on the premises of mountain creek marina.  There was minimal damage to the aluminum pontoon on the starboard side of vessel 1.  There was significant damage to the port side of vessel 2 that had made a gash in the gelcoat and into the fiberglass hull.  The pontoon was equipped with the correct number of pfds.  The pfds were not being work at the time of the accident.  The use of alcohol and/or drugs was not believed to be a contriuting factor in the accident.  With the evidence and statements given, it is clear that the cause of the accident was due to the fault of equipment and machinery due to the throttle getting stuck in the forward position and the motor cutting off.

Operator1 was given a citation for not meeting the boating safety education requirements.

SHERRILLS FORD                