Vessel 1, with 6 persons on board, left dock to cruise on the lake.  Upon exiting West harbor onto the main body of Lake Erie, the Operator and Occupants of Vessel 1 determined that conditions on the lake were too rough for safe operation and decided to return to the dock.  Upon returning to the Marina, the Operator of Vessel 1 attempted to dock into his slip which placed him between the dock to his starboard side and another vessel on his port side.  The strong wind pushed him toward the dock on his starboard side too quickly and, fearing for the safety of an Occupant sitting near the bow of Vessel 1 should Vessel 1 strike the dock, the Operator of Vessel 1 used his engine to back away from the dock.  In doing so, he struck Vessel 2, which was docked astern of his location in another dock perpindicular to Vessel 1's.  The stern of Vessel 1 struck Vessel 2 amidship on the starboard side of Vessel 2.  The force of the impact pushed the hull of Vessel 2 in and separated the hull from the superstructure.  There was no one on board Vessel 2 at the time of the incident.

NOTE - Operator Inexperience is listed as the primary contributing factor based on the fact that even though the Operator had 100-500 hours boating experience in general, he had less than 10 hours of experience with this particular vessel (Vessel 1).
Port Clinton                  