RedactedNarrative: On 7/14/18 operator was operating his 20 foot Cobia powerboat on the Mississippi River with 5 occupants on board (1 adult and 4 children).  Operator was travelling up river in a northwesterly direction past Island 521, which is near mile marker 222.4.  At approximately 5:05 PM, Operator drove over the wing dam located near mile marker 222.4, severely damaging his outdrive and causing him to lose power.  Operator estimated his speed to be just over 10 miles per hour.  
  
  CPO and I had just turned around up river of Operator and saw the occupants waving their arms and blowing their horn to get our attention.  When we approached Operator, he did not have power, was on the opposite side of the wing dam as our patrol boat, and was drifting up river to the head of the wing dam.  We told Operator to drop anchor if he had one and that we would come around to them.  I was able to maneuver the patrol boat around the down stream side of the wing dam and drive up to Operator.  The four children in the boat were already wearing PFD''s, so I asked Operator and the other adult occupant to put a PFD on as well.  
  
  CPO and I were able to tow Operator''s boat back out to the main channel, where they were put into an alongside tow and brought back to the Grafton Marina.  Operator had launched at Piasa Harbor, but was able to have a friend meet him at Grafton to retrieve his truck and trailer.  After Operator came back with his trailer and removed his boat, I was able to take several pictures of the damage.  Those pictures are attached to this report.  Operator had significant damage to the outdrive.  The skeg was broke off, the propeller was damaged, and there was a large hole in the lower unit.  The housing where the lower unit attached to the boat was broke and there was large gouges in the fiberglass of the boat in front of the lower unit.  No injuries were reported by any of the occupants.  Operator told me that they had boated that same area last weekend with no issues so that is why he drove where he did.  The river had dropped a few feet since last weekend, which is why he did not strike the wing dam the weekend before.
  