RedactedNarrative: On January 11, 2018, around 7:15 am, Sea Tow received a call of a 63 foot yacht aground in Beaufort, between Pivers Island and  the Old Town Yacht Club.  Captain responded and arrived on scene at 7:30 a.m. and found the yacht to be stuck in the mud and the operator in a pair of soaking wet shorts.  
  
  The operator, Operator2, stated he was checking his props.  Due to the size of the vessel, Captain called for assistance.  Operator1, went out and arrived on scene around 7:45 am.  Operator1 hooked up his vessel to the starboard stern of the yacht and Subject hooked his vessel up to the starboard side bow of the yacht.  While ungrounding the vessel, Subject said that Operator2 had very erratic behavior and that he had to ask Operator2 several times to go back in the cabin.  
  
  Subject also stated that Operator2 had drank two beers while they were there ungrounding the vessel.  Once Sea Tow got Operator2's vessel ungrounded, Operator2 turned on his motors and started backing up into Operator1.  Operator1 told Operator2 to stop and had him unhook the lines that were still on Operator2's stern.  After that, Operator1 asked Operator2 to pull into the dock at the Old Town Yacht Club to fill out paperwork and inspect Operator2's vessel for damage.  Operator2 did not listen and took off south toward Bulkhead Channel so both Sea Tow vessels followed him and tried to get him to stop.  At this point, Subject contacted the USCG for a boarding team.  
  While he was talking with the USCG, Operator1 was along side the yacht and as they were coming out of Bulkhead Channel, Operator2 turned the yacht hard starboard hitting Operator1's vessel port side stern and almost pushing Operator1 into the rock jetty.  As Operator2's vessel collided with Operator1's vessel, Operator1 stuck out his left hand to push against the yacht injuring his hand.  
  Both Operator1 and Subject continued to follow Operator2 until the Coast Guard arrived to stop the vessel.  The vessel was stopped and boarded by the USCG in Gallants Channel about 100 yards from the Radio Island Boat Ramp.  I arrived on scene shortly after that and Operator2 was taken into custody for operating while impaired.  The Coast Guard towed the yacht to Town Creek Marina.  The Sea Tow vessel was then taken off the water and inspected the following day.  Operator1's hand was bruised and swollen.  X-rays confirmed that it was not broken. The next day when I met with Operator1 in person, the swelling and bruising was gone and he had some minor cuts around his left pointer finger and thumb.  After inspecting the Sea Tow vessel, the port side stern of the rubber hull was torn and deflated.  However, Operator1 stated he would be able to fix it so he wouldn't incur any damage costs.
  