RedactedNarrative: On saturday june 09, 2018, a vessel incident occurred in mecklenburg county at lake norman.  The incident occurred at approximately 7:15pm.  The incident involved only one vessel.  The vessel involved is a 1994 26' hunter starchaser sailboat.  There were a total of four people on the vessel when the incident occurred.
  
  The vessel was traveling northeast through ramsey creek towards morningstar marina.  A strong thunderstorm developed in the lake norman area as the vessel was navigating to the marina.  The operator stated that they were using the 15 horsepower engine to power the vessel.  The main sail was in the up position as they were traveling back to shore.  The wind from the thunderstorm became very strong.  The owner attempted to drop the sail.  He was unable to get the sail lowered before the vessel capsized.  The vessel capsized on the port/left side.  The vessel came to rest in the upside down position. Once the vessel capsized, all four occupants were forced into the water.  Cornelius police lake patrol officers observed the incident occur.  Officials rescued all of the occupants from the water.  The four men were transported to morningstar marina.  Mecklenburg county ems did check each person for injuries.  No one onboard the vessel suffered any injuries from the incident.  Towboat usa did tow the vessel to ramsey creek park.  The vessel was uprighted and loaded onto a trailer at the ramsey creek park boat access. 
  
  In conclusion this vessel incident was caused by sudden high winds from a strong thunderstorm.  I did speak with local weather officials to see if there was any extraordinary weather event at the time of the incident.  The event is classified as a strong thunderstorm and nothing more.  There are no charges pending in this incident.  The vessel was declared a total loss by the insurance provider.  The total loss value of the vessel  is $10,500.
  
  ********************end of report*************************
  