RESPONSE:
NPS Ranger was able to recover two people from the water while we were responding.  Upon arriving we decided the vessel Ranger had was best suited and crewed for recovering the people in the water so the other responding vessels and myself tried to start searching the immediate area for other people and to shield the recovering boat from the wave action.  Ranger and his vessel crew were able to recover the other seven people from the water and they transported those people to the Marina to be evaluated for possible hypothermia or other injuries.

The vessel was capsized with approximately 4 feet of the bow protruding from the water, causing a possible hazard for other vessels in the area as the waves were approximately 3 feet high.  I took the vessel in tow and towed it toward shore near Castle Rock to remove it from likely vessel traffic areas and to get it in shallow waters in case it were to sink the rest of the way.

INVESTIGATION:
I contacted the vessel owner/operator back at the NPS Fire Station where he and all the vessel occupants  were being evaluated for any medical complications.  All the occupants were evaluated and released after being warmed up.

I spoke to Operator about the accident and he stated that he had been going pretty slow in the waves, keeping the bow up when some water came over the boat, which upset the 4 yr old child on board.  When the child became upset Operator stated he slowed the boat down some more to see if he was okay and when the bow came down a wave came over the front, swamping the boat.  He stated they tried to keep going but another wave came over and then the electronics/bilge pump stopped working and the vessel started to sink.

After speaking with other vessel occupants who had very similar accounts of the accident I had Operator and another person fill out witness statements.

CONCLUSION:

With very strong winds (sustained 40, gusting 50+) and big wave action ( approx 3-4') I found that Operator's account of the accident was likely very accurate.  Turning  the wrong way in those waves or letting your bow come down would definitely lead to a wave coming over your vessel.  Without a working bilge system due to water damage to the batteries, it would make sense that the vessel would then quickly become swamped and capsize.

Big Water                     