http://www.wcsh6.com/news/article.aspx?storyid=68561
Here is a relavent link from Long Lake in ME.
Rumor has it the boat that was hit was "star gazing" with no lights on. ( A 17' hydrostream) It is not clear how fast the 31' was going but I would guess pretty fast seeing they got thrown out and the boat made it 100 yards on shore.
This should be an interesting investigation.....
Another report with slightly different boat info...
Sorry no link...
HARRISON — Maine Warden Service divers planned to resume
their search this morning for the bodies of two people presumed
to have been killed when a cigarette-style speedboat smashed
into their 14-foot fiberglass boat Saturday night on Long Lake.
The speed of the 34-foot, high-performance boat was such that
when it hit shore moments after striking the smaller craft, it was
launched 150 feet into the woods.
The two occupants of the speedboat were thrown into the water
in the collision, but were able to swim to shore.
The warden service has launched a criminal investigation and
has been instructed by the Cumberland County District
Attorney's Office not to release the names of those who had
been in the speedboat or the couple presumed to have died in
the smaller boat, said Lt. Pat Dorian, head of search and rescue
for the warden service.
More than a dozen distraught family members and friends
gathered on the shoreline near the staging area of the search,
watching the boats, divers and a float plane scour a half-mile by
quarter-mile area. Friends in the town of Naples lamented the
loss of a local musician who had a wide circle of friends.
Investigators have not concluded whether the boats involved had
the required bow and stern lights, or if so, were using them
when the crash happened at about 9 p.m. off Bear Point on the
east side of Long Lake near the town line.
The speedboat and the recovered bow of the fiberglass boat
have been taken to the Maine State Police crime lab in Augusta
for analysis.
Police were called to the east shore of Long Lake by a resident
who heard the larger boat crash into the shore. The occupants
were found swimming to shore and were taken for medical
treatment.
It was two hours later that wardens found the flotsam of the
smaller boat, but it is unclear precisely where the collision
occurred, leaving divers with a huge search area, Dorian said.
The searchers were skimming the bottom in 30 to 45 feet of
water, with about 10 feet of visibility when the sun was shining.
A boat towing two divers was using global positioning software
to record the areas that had been searched.
The searchers were looking for the missing couple or the boat's
115 Mercury outboard motor, which sank and could help them
narrow their search, Dorian said. However, soft mud and silt at
the bottom could have buried the motor, he said.
People in Naples said one of the missing people was Raye Trott,
and that the other was presumably his girlfriend, who was not
from the area. The couple had headed out on his boat on
Saturday and had not returned to their vehicles after the crash.
Friends gathered Sunday at Bray's Brew Pub, a popular Naples
hangout where Trott often performed in a local band, in hopes
the search would bring good news. They left disappointed.
"It's obviously very disappointing for anyone who knew him,"
said Angela Roux, a waitress at the pub. "He was a great
musician, a great friend and he had a big heart."
Seth Merriam said Trott was a good friend who was fond of
riding his customized Harley-Davidson motorcycle and who had
a coarse, but warm, sense of humor.
"He tells some pretty funny jokes you wouldn't tell your
grandmother," Merriam recalled. "He was really down to earth
and funny."
Merriam said he was in Naples talking to his girlfriend on the
telephone Saturday just before the crash, and heard a cigarette
boat accelerate loudly after passing the bridge by the Naples
Causeway. He remarked about it to his girlfriend because he had
been in one for the first time earlier in the day and was amazed
at how fast it was and how much of the lake it consumed as it
roared down the narrow body of water.
Merriam guessed that Trott may have sought the dark, open
expanse of sky offered on the lake Saturday night to take in the
Perseid meteor shower, which could have been a reason to turn
off the boat's navigational lights.
Boats under way are required to have a white light on the stern
and a red and green light on the bow.
Maine law defines reckless operation as operating a watercraft to
recklessly create a substantial risk of serious bodily injury to
another person. Another law defines operating to endanger as
operating a watercraft so as to endanger a person or property.
Boats also must be operated at reasonable and prudent speeds.
Violation of any of those laws is a misdemeanor.
"Speed is a factor on many of our lakes and ponds in southern
Maine," Dorian said, noting that congested lakes during the
summer are particularly dangerous.
"It's an accident waiting to happen. Those kinds of things are
compounded when you're traveling at night," he said.
Searchers planned to return to Bear Point today to continue the
search for the missing couple and for evidence.
"I don't have a doubt we'll go for days until we find the missing
victims," Dorian said.