Operator 1 stated: "I was putting the trim tab up on the motor and by accident the motor went to gear, I pulled back immediately to put the boat into in neutral, and we drifted into the other boat. No one was on board the other boat. The owner came off the beach and said everything was okay and not to worry about anything. He said there was no damage done to his boat at that time. There were no injuries at all."

Owner 2 stated: " At approximately 1745 the vessel,  "Angelina"  28’ SeaRay SLX, weighed anchor and proceeded to use astern propulsion backing away from the beach at the north end of Strathmere New Jersey (Corson's Inlet). At that point one of the personnel (late aged male) onboard fell off the stern of said vessel. The vessel then drifted in the current toward my boat striking the port side stern. The operator then looked back toward the stern of his vessel while simultaneously engaging forward propulsion causing his vessel to strike mine a second time with considerably more force than the first impact. The operator then backed away from my vessel as I waded into the water. Once I made it to the stern of my vessel he left the scene."


Due to the incident not being reported until July 6, 2023 therefore investigation on scene could not be conducted.  However, based on the statements provided and the damage observed it was determined that both vessels were moored up next to each other at the beach, bow in, in Strathmere Bay.  V1 was on the north side of V2.  

V2 was unoccupied at the time of the collision.  As V1 was attempting to back away from the beach the vessel rotated clockwise began to drift toward V2.  The bow of V1 then made contact with the port side stern of V2.  O1 mistakenly put the throttle in the forward position causing the bow of V1 to again strike the port side stern of V2.  The impact cut the line for the aft anchor, forcing V2 to travel into more shallow waters causing the fixed diving ladder to strike bottom and bending same.  

There were no injuries reported on scene.

V1 did not sustain any damage, however I was able to observe white paint transfer from V2 on the bow just above the towing eyelet.  V2 sustained some scratching and gouges to the gel coat and a dent to the metal rub rail at the port side stern as well as a bent dive ladder.  Due to the impact V2 also lost its aft anchor.  The owner of V2 advised that he also sustained some scratches to the cowling on his motor however I was unable to determine if it was caused by V1 as O1 was adamant they never made contact with the motor of V2.

STRATHMERE BAY
UPPER TWP                     