RedactedNarrative: During the afternoon of Saturday, August 07, 2021, around 3:06PM, I learned of a sunken pontoon boat, in the Mascoutin SRA Cove, from information relayed via CPO.  No one was injured and all occupants were off the vessel. 
   
  I arrived on-scene at approximately 3:59PM and observed a sunken pontoon boat, in the Mascoutin SRACove, along the north bank, between the two primary docks [PHOTOS #1 and #2].  Individuals were in the process of attempting to raise the boat and remove it from the lake.  I spoke with operator and confirmed no one was injured.  He was the operator of the vessel at the time of the accident.  Listed below are the key points garnered from my interaction:
   
  · He was working on the boat for a friend and did not intend to launch it.  He was alone.
  · He backed the trailer and boat into the ramp and test fired the engine.  At the time, the transom straps had been removed; however, the bow was still connected to the boat trailer.  He told me he revved the engine too fast idle several times and believed it was in neutral.  As he was doing so, the pontoon boat floated off the trailer, to one side, at an angle.
  · He exited the bow of the boat, stood on the trailer, and attempted to square-up the boat.  The bow strap came loose, the boat slid off the trailer, and into the lake.  He told me, he jumped from the trailer back onto the boat.  At this point he realized the vessel was in reverse…not neutral as he originally believed.  He could not explain how the boat got from neutral into reverse.  He stated, “Maybe I had the throttle a little farther back than I thought”.
  · The pontoon boat motored away from the ramp, into the mouth of the Masocutin SRA Cove, as he shifted it back into neutral.  When he shifted the boat back into gear, and attempted to steer it back toward the trailer, he realized “the steering was froze-up”.  So, he killed the engine and floated in the cove.
  · According to him, as he floated in the cove, he noticed the vessel was slowly taking on water.  Overtime, the wake, wind, and waves pushed the pontoon boat to the north shore of Mascoutin SRA Cove, between the two primary docks were it sank, in shallow water, against the bank, next to the rocky shoreline [PHOTOS #1 and #2 OF ATTACHED REPORT].
  · Operator was alone throughout the entire episode.  There are no known witnesses.
  · Operator believed the boat had sunk at approximately 2:00PM.  I arrived on-scene at roughly 3:59PM.  He, along with other unknown individuals, were in the process of raising the vessel to remove it from the lake.  he told me; he did not realize the plugs were out of the pontoons at the time he backed it into the water which caused it to sink when it unexpectedly separated from the trailer. 
  · Through the assistance of other unknown individuals, along with impressive engineering, he was able to clear the pontoons of water, fasten both plugs, raise the vessel, and remove it from the lake.
  
  Field report #2021-3-401-006B S1 ATTACHED
  
  EOR