On 06/29/2013 at approximately 2130 hours, a single vessel accident occurred on Dunns Creek in Putnam County Florida.  Involved was a 22 foot angler center console vessel with one person on board.  The vessel was traveling away from Crescent Lake on a plane.  At an area where the creek turns to the north, the operator was negotiating a starboard turn near the center of the creek when he encountered a mat of vegetation in his path.  The operator took evasive action by increasing the throttle, turning hard to starboard and trimming the motor up to clear the obstruction, he was unsuccessful.  In the vegetation was a large tree trunk, mostly submerged just below the water line.  The vessel impacted the tree trunk on the motors foot (bullet).  The impact snapped the upper and lower motor mounting bracket at the location where the engine attaches to the vessel, detaching the motor from the bracket.  The motor remained attached to the vessel only by the control cables.  The vessel came to rest in the middle of Dunns creek, upright and afloat, the motor came to rest on the creek bottom attached to the vessel by the control cables.  The operator remained at the helm and was uninjured.  

Based on information and evidence gathered to date, the following conclusions have been made:
The operator operated his vessel in a manner consistent with good practices of running in oxbow creeks.  Flowing creeks usually contain the deepest water in the outside of oxbow turns.  The vessel path in each turn, was on the outside of the bend.  The location of the obstruction was also on the outside bend, an area not usually associated with shallow water.  The area of shallow water and vegetation, in and of itself, did not constitute a hazard as the vessel would have had sufficient depth to pass over it undamaged.  The tree trunk was at some time free floating and came to rest in a position that was determined by the current.  The tree rested in an east-west direction with the east end on the water bottom and the west end floating at the water line, held fast to the vegetation by the north flowing current.  The operator, unaware of the tree obstruction due to its attitude in the water, took the appropriate evasive action to avoid the portion of the obstruction he could see (vegetation).
WELAKA