News

Booze Cruise Gone Awry

By Dylan Marsh
EAGLE TIMES STAFF
SUNAPEE — Michael Smith, a 19-year-old Massachusetts teenager was arrested Saturday, June 11, 2022, for boating while intoxicated, which led to him crashing his boat on Lake Sunapee.

At approximately 10 PM on Saturday evening, the New Hampshire State Police Communications received a call-in regard to a boat crash that took place near the Sunapee Yacht Club. New Hampshire State Police-Marine Patrol officers, Sunapee Police Department personnel, the Sunapee Fire Department, and New London Ambulance personnel responded to the incident. At the scene they found that a 22-foot Mastercraft boat, with starting costs of around $85,000, had beached itself on the shoreline.

“It’s just that time of year. There’s always going to be boat crashes, and there are 100 different reasons. Some of them end up being more high profile. A lot of it, of course, has to do with the weather. If it’s rainy and cold every weekend, then obviously you won’t see as much. If it’s 90 degrees and humid everyday it becomes much more common,” New Hampshire State Police-Marine Patrol Sergeant Seth Alie said in regard to the normalcy of boating accidents.

The accident, which was reportedly heard from Blodgett Landing in the town of Newbury, was allegedly the result of illegal drinking.

The New Hampshire Marine Patrol is part of Operation Dry Water, a year-round boating under the influence awareness and enforcement campaign. Since Operation Dry Water’s inception in 2009, BUI incidents have decreased. In the state of New Hampshire, first time boating under the influence offenders can receive $500 to $1,200 in fines, a boating privilege suspension of one year, and a three-month to two-year driver’s license suspension. A judge can also order a BUI offender to use an ignition interlock device for up to six months.

Alcohol is still said to be the leading contributor to boating accidents and, in 2020 alone, almost 800 people were killed from boating accidents. The crash on Lake Sunapee could have been fatal. If the boat had skewed 20 feet in either direction, less than the length of the boat itself, they would have collided with nearby structures. Smith and a friend were on the boat at the time of the crash and were both uninjured.

“If they had been twenty feet off, there was an I-beam on one side and there was a building on the other. At the speeds they were going there would have such a violent impact, they would definitely have died. It was about an 80-degree pitch where they beached themselves and it was able to slow them down,” said Alie.

The New Hampshire Department of Safety Marine Division would like to remind everyone to boat safely, keep a proper lookout, and especially have a sober driver. Sergeant Alie would also like to mention that you can’t be cautious enough. Always check that all of your safety equipment and lights are in proper working order.

Anyone who witnessed the crash is encouraged to contact New Hampshire State Police-Marine Patrol Sergeant Seth Alie at [email protected] or (603) 227-2117.

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