RedactedNarrative: On August 7th, 2016 at approximately 1700 hours, the operator of a PWC suffered a rib injury requiring hospital treatment.  Three people were at Lloyds Creek on the Sassafras River and decided to take a ride on Operator's 2015 Kawasaki PWC.  Operator was the operator.  They departed Lloyds Creek and entered the main stem of the Sassafras River.  The PWC has two power settings, a green "high performance" key and a yellow "cruising" key.  Operator was nervous using the green key as the throttle lever is very sensitive so she exchanged the green key for the yellow key.  They had only just departed the creek and were heading in a straight line at approximately 35 mph when Operator describes either hitting a wave or a wake, she is not sure which, and everyone on board the PWC was thrown off the rear of the PWC.   
  
  It appears the PWC must have turned as it hit the wave for everyone to be thrown off the rear.  Operator struck the water and remembers feeling a pain in her side but doesn't remember hitting any object.  She did not strike any part of the PWC so it is likely she struck one of the passengers.  Operator knew she was injured but got everyone back on board the PWC and heading back towards the beach from which they departed.  At shore Operator decided to lay down on board a friend's 20 foot bow rider power boat.  After lying down for approximately a half hour Operator could not move and was having difficulty breathing.  So the other persons in their group stabilized Operator and headed towards White Crystal Beach, which is where they had departed from earlier in the day.  At shore they decided to contact EMS and Operator was transported to Christiana Hospital, DE.  
  
  There were no injuries to the other passengers.
   
   
  All events occurred in Kent and Cecil County, MD.
  