RedactedNarrative: On saturday, september 3, 2022, at approximately 8:45 p.m, operator was operating a 21ft sea pro in the new river inlet.  He was traveling out of the inlet in a southeast direction heading towards the ocean.  The vessel was owned by operator's employer.  Operator said in his statement that he was familiar with the area but he ran aground in the new river inlet, when he could not get unstuck, he threw out the anchor and line.  
  
  Operator was picked up by his uncle on another vessel and taken back to shore. The next morning the vessel had moved to the beach in front of new river inlet road on north topsail beach.  The anchor line had snapped. The vessel was in the surf and was heavily beaten by waves. Sea tow was called but could not get to the vessel because of rough water conditions. The vessel was removed the following day.  I interviewed operator on sunday afternoon and asked him to tell me what happened.  He stated that he had been hanging out with his freinds on a sandbar near surf city since about 1:00 pm that afternoon. He had a few beers but he was "sober as a judge" at the time of the incident.  He was just riding around to burn gas and that is why he had ventured out into the inlet.
  
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