RedactedNarrative: On July 12, 2017, Subject1 (Vessel 2) rented a pontoon boat from Riverwalk Watersports LLC in Wilmington.  Subject1 and party headed south down the Cape Fear River past the State Port.  Just past the Port, the rented vessel started having engine trouble and eventually stopped working.  Subject1's son Operator1 (Vessel 1 operator) was close by on a personally owned personal watercraft.  Operator1 then began to tow the disabled vessel back towards the Isabella Holmes bridge to where Riverwalk Watersports is located.  When Operator1 was transiting back North near the State Port, Operator3 was operating his tug “Cape Fear” along side berth 3.  Operator3 was under tow towing a metal sled under the water. Operator3 was towing from the bow of his vessel with the sled following behind the tug. 
  
  Operator1 began to overtake Operator3 as both vessels were traveling North.  Operator3 then got to the end of his pass and turned to the starboard to make another pass down by berth 3.  While making the starboard turn, Operator3 noticed the PWC and began to motion to the PWC to turn to the port side of his vessel in order to set up a Starboard to Starboard side pass.  Operator3 also tried to hail the PWC and pontoon boat on VHF, but with no response as neither vessel was equipped with such a device.  Operator1 turned to the Starboard side like a normal head on encounter with another vessel.  Operator3 then tried to turn to the starboard side as well but when he did, the stern swung to the port side due to the weight of the sled, which caused the stern to impact the disabled pontoon boat on the port side pontoon and port side bow light. This impact jerked the PWC and ejected Operator1 into the water from his PWC.  The Pontoon boat rode up on the side of the tug and then landed back in the water.  Operator1 surfaced and swam back to this vessel as Operator3 continued South.  
  
  After the collision, Operator1 continued to tow the pontoon till Riverwalk Watersports could assist in the tow.  Operator3 reported the incident to the US Coast Guard Sector North Carolina and Riverwalk Watersports notified Officer with the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission.  Officer arrived that evening and collected the statement left for him.  Officer spoke with the USCG Sector Prevention department and determined it was a recreational incident to be handled by NCWRC. 
   
  The pontoon boat, (vessel 2) suffered damage to the port side bow and port side bow light as well as damage to the port side pontoon.  Neither vessel 1 nor vessel 3 sustained any damage during the incident.
  
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