On 12/29/14 at approximately 1500 hours, I responded to a vessel accident in Miami-Dade County located at the Rickenbacker Causeway involving two vessels.  Upon arrival, I met with USCG Miami who was already on scene with both vessels and I obtained information in regards to the accident.  I made contact with the operator of V2 and identified.  I observed damage to the port side of his vessel estimated at approximately 3000 dollars and I obtained a written statement from Operator2.  According to his statement, V2 was traveling northbound underneath the center span of the Rickenbacker Causeway when it was struck by V1 (documented as 743601) on its port side while V1 was traveling southbound.  According to the statement provided, it appears that port to port contact was made resulting in greater damage to V2.

V1 (DO743601, 2011, 78 foot Pleasure Yacht) sustained minor damage to its port side estimated at approximately 1000 dollars.  I obtained a written statement from the operator of V1.  He stated that his throttle and shift system failed before making contact with V2 indicating possible machinery failure.  I asked operator1 if the throttle system was functioning properly after the accident occurred and he stated that it did.
KEY BISCAYNE