Wisconsin Boating Fatality Summary - 2004 Season

Updated through November 23, 2004- 11AM

#	Date/ Time	Water Body/ County	# Fatalites/ Age	Accident Type/ Cause of Death	Boat Type/ Size (length/hp)	PFD	Alcohol Involved
1.	5/29/04	Mercer Lake	1	Fell Overboard	Pontoon	No	N/A
		Iron	35	Drowned	15'/25hp
When the pontoon boat drifted to shore it led to the discovery of the 7-year-old son floating in the water holding onto one of his dad's tennis shoes. Rescue divers later located the victim.

#	Date/ Time	Water Body/ County	# Fatalites/ Age	Accident Type/ Cause of Death	Boat Type/ Size (length/hp)	PFD	Alcohol Involved
2.	6/1/04	Green Bay	1	Fell Overboard	Open Motor	No	Yes .037
	6:30 PM	Door	52	Drowning	14'9"/85hp
The victim had fallen overboard after the boat had struck a wave. Boat Operator had a .096 BAC.

#	Date/ Time	Water Body/ County	# Fatalites/ Age	Accident Type/ Cause of Death	Boat Type/ Size (length/hp)	PFD	Alcohol Involved
3.	6/13/04	High Falls Flowage	1	Victim ejected.	Open Motor	No	Yes, .250
	10:21 PM	Marinette	41	Drowning	17' 9"/150hp
Victim was cruising at time of incident and struck rocks at a high rate of speed. The victim and his wife were both ejected.

#	Date/ Time	Water Body/ County	# Fatalites/ Age	Accident Type/ Cause of Death	Boat Type/ Size (length/hp)	PFD	Alcohol Involved
4.	6/15/04	Bass Lake	1	Boat swamping / sinking.	Open Motor	No	N/A
	5:00 PM	Waushara	13	Drowning	11' 10"
Five kids where in a boat jumping in and out when the boat started to fill with water. They tried to drive to shore but took on water over the stern. It sunk when one of the boys moved forward to level out the boat. The victim could not swim.

#	Date/ Time	Water Body/ County	# Fatalites/ Age	Accident Type/ Cause of Death	Boat Type/ Size (length/hp)	PFD	Alcohol Involved
5.	6/20/04	Lake Winnebago	1	Boat swamping / sinking.	Open Motor	No	?
	9:30 AM	Fon du lac	17	Drowning	16'
The boat began to take on water and the occupants scrambled to get into their PFD's. Four succeeded and later were rescued by a passing boat. Boaters tried unsuccessfully to get some sort of PFD to the fifth before he slipped under the water and did not resurface.

#	Date/ Time	Water Body/ County	# Fatalites/ Age	Accident Type/ Cause of Death	Boat Type/ Size (length/hp)	PFD	Alcohol Involved
6.	6/20/04	Sheboygan	1	Capsized	Canoe	Yes	?
	2:26 PM	Sheboygan	62	Drowning	16'
Victim was canoeing with son when they came upon another man whose kayak had went over a dam and capsized. The operator of the kayak made it to shore. The victim and his son tried to recover the kayak but their canoe capsized and the victim was trapped in the strong current of the low head dam water hydraulics.

#	Date/ Time	Water Body/ County	# Fatalites/ Age	Accident Type/ Cause of Death	Boat Type/ Size (length/hp)	PFD	Alcohol Involved
7.	7/13/04	Lake Como	1	Jumped overboard	Open Motor	No	?
	4:15PM	Walworth	39	Drowing	18'
The victim jumped from boat to assist her husband and child, who were in the water. The victim was not able to swim back to her boat, and went under for approximately 30 minutes before pulled out of the water by nearby boaters.

#	Date/ Time	Water Body/ County	# Fatalites/ Age	Accident Type/ Cause of Death	Boat Type/ Size (length/hp)	PFD	Alcohol Involved
8.	7/14/04	Shawano Lake	1	Skier fell & head hit fellow skier's ski.	Open Motor	Yes	No
	11:07AM	Shawano	16	Impact/trauma	21'/335hp
Victim was skiing with brother. Fell awkwardly into the water. Was rescued by the boat operator (mother). Taken by EMT to Medical Center and later to St. Vincent hospital. Died from skull fracture on July 31st.

#	Date/ Time	Water Body/ County	# Fatalites/ Age	Accident Type/ Cause of Death	Boat Type/ Size (length/hp)	PFD	Alcohol Involved
9.	7/21/04	Shawano Lake	1	Unoccupied boat found going in circles	Open Motor	No	Yes, .236
	6:41PM	Shawano	56	Drowning	14'
Victim's body resurfaced and was found on July 24th.

#	Date/ Time	Water Body/ County	# Fatalites/ Age	Accident Type/ Cause of Death	Boat Type/ Size (length/hp)	PFD	Alcohol Involved
10.	7/24/04	Upper Dells - Wisconsin River	1	Went over dam	PWC	?	Yes, .249
	5:30PM	Sauk	26	Impact/trauma	10'/70hp
The victim approached the marked danger area of the dam, struck the metal roller gates at a slight angle as she attempted a turn away and went over the top of the dam while her passenger fell off of the PWC.

#	Date/ Time	Water Body/ County	# Fatalites/ Age	Accident Type/ Cause of Death	Boat Type/ Size (length/hp)	PFD	Alcohol Involved
11.	7/25/04	Lake Mohawksin	1	Fall Overboard	Open Motor	No	?
	12:00 PM	Lincoln	48	Drowning	15'5"/70hp
The victim was operating his boat toward the boat landing and the motor was not operating properly, it would go in spurts from full to half throttle. The victim was attempting to fix the motor while it was running and it spurted forward throwing the victim out of the boat.

#	Date/ Time	Water Body/ County	# Fatalites/ Age	Accident Type/ Cause of Death	Boat Type/ Size (length/hp)	PFD	Alcohol Involved
12.	7/31/04	Chippewa Flowage	1	Jump overboard	Open Motor	No	?
	8:54 PM	Sawyer	46	Drowning	16'/90hp
Victim jumped into the water to retrieve a fishing pole. Victim came up for air once, then dove back down to continue looking for the pole but she never resurfaced. Victim's husband dove into the water to locate his wife and came up 4 feet into a bog and encountered problems breaking through the weeds and roots in the bog to get air.

#	Date/ Time	Water Body/ County	# Fatalites/ Age	Accident Type/ Cause of Death	Boat Type/ Size (length/hp)	PFD	Alcohol Involved
13.	8/6/04	Mississippi River	1	Swam after drifting boat after boat was launched	Open Motor	No	?
	8 PM	Crawford	43	Drowning	16'/28hp
Victim presumed drowned while swimming to catch drifting boat he had just launched & presumed fell out. No witnesses to event. Investigation continuing.

#	Date/ Time	Water Body/ County	# Fatalites/ Age	Accident Type/ Cause of Death	Boat Type/ Size (length/hp)	PFD	Alcohol Involved
14.	8/15/04	Rock River	1	Boat glanced off submerged stumps near island	Open Motor	Yes	Yes, .084
	11:20 AM	Rock	59	Internal Injuries	19'/200hp
Victim was practice racing at a high rate of speed. Boat glanced off multiple tree stumps. Victim-operator was ejected. Victim was transported to hospital by EMT's and then was released. Died August 22nd at home. Coroner attributed death to be injuries sustained in the boat accident.

#	Date/ Time	Water Body/ County	# Fatalites/ Age	Accident Type/ Cause of Death	Boat Type/ Size (length/hp)	PFD	Alcohol Involved
15.	8/19/04	Lake Superior	1	Capsized	Kayak	Yes	No
	10 AM	Bayfield	23	Hypothermia
Victim & Father struggled for hours attempting to swim away from sea caves. Making very little progress, father left unconscious son in water near caves & swam for help.

#	Date/ Time	Water Body/ County	# Fatalites/ Age	Accident Type/ Cause of Death	Boat Type/ Size (length/hp)	PFD	Alcohol Involved
16.	8/21/04	Dunham Lake	1	Struck by another boat	PWC	Yes	?
	4:05 PM	Burnett	42	Injuries
PWC operator slowed down & turned around to retrieve a hat which had blown off. The PWC was then struck by a boat resulting in injuries to two passengers and fatal injuries to the PWC operator.

#	Date/ Time	Water Body/ County	# Fatalites/ Age	Accident Type/ Cause of Death	Boat Type/ Size (length/hp)	PFD	Alcohol Involved
17.	9/02/04	Lake Wausau	1	Fell off board	Wind Surf Board	No	No
	4:30 PM	Marathon	15	Drowning
Modified Wind Surf board was found on shore by children. Search of area found Victim about 100’ from shore in 16 – 18’ water depth. Victim could not swim and did not wear PDF.

#	Date/ Time	Water Body/ County	# Fatalites/ Age	Accident Type/ Cause of Death	Boat Type/ Size (length/hp)	PFD	Alcohol Involved
18.	9/24/04	Gordon Lake	1	Boat rolled over	Pontoon	No	Yes, .128
	10 PM	Ashland	47	Drowning	15'
Seven People aboard a home made pontoon Houseboat with a high frame work. Boat rolled over throwing everyone into the water. Victim was not wearing a PDF.

#	Date/ Time	Water Body/ County	# Fatalites/ Age	Accident Type/ Cause of Death	Boat Type/ Size (length/hp)	PFD	Alcohol Involved
19.	9/26/04	Private pond	1	Boat capsized	Rowboat	No	No
	8:30 PM	Clark	18	Drowning
Water began to enter at bow of rowboat occupied by 5 girls. Girls moved to rear of baot which then capsized. Four of the girls swam to shore. Victim went under and did not surface.

#	Date/ Time	Water Body/ County	# Fatalites/ Age	Accident Type/ Cause of Death	Boat Type/ Size (length/hp)	PFD	Alcohol Involved
20.	9/26/04	Green Bay	1	Boat capsized	Open Motor	Yes	?
	9:15 PM	Brown	20	Drowning	14'/5hp
Four men went for boat ride. A call was placed to Kewaunee County dispatch when they did not return to their motel. DNR Boat Patrol found 3 of 4 men at capsized boat. Victim had attempted to swim to shore. He was found by US Coast Guard boat patrol early the next morning.

#	Date/ Time	Water Body/ County	# Fatalites/ Age	Accident Type/ Cause of Death	Boat Type/ Size (length/hp)	PFD	Alcohol Involved
21.	10/09/04	Lake Mendota	1	Dove off of a sail boat	Sail	No	Yes
	3:15 AM	Dane	24	Drowning	17'5"
Six people were on sailboat. Victim disrobed and dove off the boat. Victim was swimming then later did not resurface.

#	Date/ Time	Water Body/ County	# Fatalites/ Age	Accident Type/ Cause of Death	Boat Type/ Size (length/hp)	PFD	Alcohol Involved
22.	10/25/04	St. Louis River	1	Unoccupied boat going in circles	Open Motor	No	?
	1 PM	Douglas	43	Presumed drowning	14'/25hp
Victim had been taking GPS readings at sites of removed channel marker buoys.

#	Date/ Time	Water Body/ County	# Fatalites/ Age	Accident Type/ Cause of Death	Boat Type/ Size (length/hp)	PFD	Alcohol Involved
23.	10/26/04	Lake Mendota	1	Overturned boat	Sail	?	?
		Dane	56	Presumed drowning	13'8"
Overturned sailboat found by passerby boaters on the west side of Lake Mendota. Investigation continuing.

#	Date/ Time	Water Body/ County	# Fatalites/ Age	Accident Type/ Cause of Death	Boat Type/ Size (length/hp)	PFD	Alcohol Involved
24.	11/13/04	Mississippi River	1	Boat struck object	Air boat	?
		LaCrosse	55	Drowned
Only witness heard an impact sound, then saw a large water spray. Operator was seen briefly struggling in the water after airboat sunk. Investigation is ongoing.

Last Revised: Wednesday December 06 2006