RedactedNarrative: On july 27, 2019 at approximately 5:30pm, a boat incident occurred on the swearing creek portion of high rock lake. It occurred in the area of the linwood-southmont road bridge. The vessel was a 20-foot, 2006 malibu response lxi with a 320 hp chevrolet inboard motor. The vessel had a split windshield console with the operator controls on the starboard side. The vessel was owned by operator1. Operator1 was traveling south in swearing creek. She slowed to make a turn to head back north. When she slowed, the bow of the vessel dropped and hit a boat wake causing it to submerge below the surface. The vessel was overloaded in the bow which caused it to swamp. Once the vessel swamped it capsized and began to sink. 
  
  At the time of the incident, there were five occupants in the vessel. The air temperature was 85 degrees and the water temperature was 84 degrees. It was a clear and sunny day with no wind and calm water conditions. There was a moderate amount of boat traffic. Two of the occupants were seated in the bow of the vessel. Operator1 was seated on the starboard side at the operator's console. The other two occupants were seated on the port side of the vessel adjacent to the operator's console. The vessel was also towing a single skier. They were traveling south in swearing creek approaching the linwood-southmont road bridge. When approaching the bridge, the skier  dropped the rope as he saw an approaching wake from vessel 2. 
  
  Noticing this, operator1 slowed the vessel and turned to the left to head north to retrieve the skier. When she slowed to begin the turn, the bow of the vessel dropped and hit a wake causing it to go below the surface. Once the bow went under the surface, operator1 stated that she tried to give the vessel more throttle to push out of the wake. This was not successful and in turn, forced the vessel further beneath the water's surface. At this point the vessel swamped. The passengers all exited the vessel and grabbed the type iii pfds that were floating around them and swam to shore. Once the vessel had swamped, operator1 stated that she swam down to the operator's console to turn the vessel off and retrieve the key. The vessel then capsized and began to sink. Operator1 stated that she grabbed the ski rope and swam it to a nearby dock where a neighbor attached it to a pontoon boat.  At this point, officer and sergeant arrived on scene by boat and assisted with recovering the vessel. The vessel was turned upright and loaded onto the trailer at a private ramp near the site of the incident. Both skier and operator1 stated that they believed the vessel was overloaded, particularly in the bow. Skier stated that he had issues with the bow coming close to submerging several times in the past. There was no visible physical damage to the exterior of the vessel. All the damage sustained was to the internal electrical components and the internals of the engine. Due to the amount of water damage, operator1 along with the insurance company decided to total the vessel. The insurance company settled for a total of 25,000 dollars. 
  
  It appears the cause of the incident was due to lack of experience, overloading in the bow and the wake of vessel 2. When operator1 slowed the vessel and began to turn, the bow of the vessel dipped down and hit a wake causing it to go underneath the surface of the water. I believe that when operator1 gave the vessel more gas by pushing the throttle forward it pushed the vessel further underneath the water's surface causing it to swamp and later capsize. No one was charged as a result of this incident.  Drugs and alcohol were not a factor.  
  
  
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