On 05-21-2011, at 3:17 PM, I was on patrol in Williamson county when I heard a Williamson county dispatch of a sailboat capsized on Crab Orchard lake.  I arrived at the accident location at 3:45PM. Two Illinois State Police Troopers were at the scene when I arrived. I was told by Trooper that his squad car had been blown and he observed two motorcycles about to get blown from the roadway when a strong short lived gust of wind occurred from the south. He believed this was the same gust that capsized this sailboat with Illinois registration. The sailboat is a 1994 Hunter 19 foot.

     The owner of this sailboat was sailing on Crab Orchard lake with two passengers. Owner told me that he was operating the sailboat when they entered the area of the Crab Orchard campround from the east. He stated that he needed to raise the main sail. He stated that he asked passenger to take the tiller while he raised the main sail. 
     
    Operator then took control of the tiller at Owner''s request and the owner began raising the main sail. Operator told me that he was at the tiller for less than two minutes when a 35-40 mph gust of wind came from the south. With the mail sail up now the boat rolled over in the water to the starboard side with the mast facing north. The water depth was 12-14 feet deep. The mast of the boat stuck into the muddy bottom and the sailboat would not up-right. The three persons on board climbed onto the bottom of the boat and were shortly picked up by a fisherman.

     I contacted USFandW refuge staff and they came with lighted buoys to mark the sailboat. On Monday the 23rd, I met with the owner and a salvage operator that told Owner that it would be $3800.00 to rmove the watercraft and that his company could not do the job until the 25th. Owner, the owner and some of his friends removed the watercraft themselves on Tuesday the 24th. I advised Operator that because he was in control of the tiller, that, he was the operator at the time of the accident and he was mailed a Boat  Operator Accident report on Thursday, May 26 by me.  The owner of this sailboat had liability insurance only on the watercraft.

     It was determined that no violations were committed in this boat accident and that the cause was weather gust of wind up to 40 mph and shallow water that did not allow the sailboat the depth to up-right itself as it would normally have done. No injuries occurred in this accident.

This report is closed.
Carbondale                    