Lake Tahoe boating tragedy: Big waves, cold water, strong winds created deadly conditions
Every summer thousands of people head to rivers, lakes and coastal areas in California — from San Diego to the Sierras, Shasta Lake to Monterey Bay — to enjoy the water as the weather warms.
Accidents are rare. But as Saturday’s heart-breaking episode demonstrated at Lake Tahoe, where seven people drowned when their 27-foot Chris Craft power boat capsized near D.L. Bliss State Park in a sudden, violent storm, sometimes boating can end in tragedy.
The Lake Tahoe disaster is believed to be the deadliest boating incident in California since 2019, when the Conception, a 75-foot dive boat, caught fire in the middle of the night and sank near Santa Cruz Island, off Ventura County, killing 34 of the 39 people aboard.
Each year, about 30 to 40 people die in recreational boating accidents statewide, according to statistics from the State Division of Boating and Waterways.
In 2023, the most recent year for which data is available, there were 412 recreational boating accidents in California, with 171 injuries and 32 fatalities. Half happened during the heart of summer — June, July and August — and 55% occurred on Saturdays and Sundays.
More fatalities happened at lakes in Northern California — 20 of 75 — in 2022 and 2023 than any other location statewide, including the ocean off Northern and Southern California, the Colorado River, the Delta and Southern California lakes.
“It’s important to check the weather. Remain alert to changing conditions,” said Adeline Yee, a spokeswoman for the California Department of Parks and Recreation. “This was a rare weather event. It was not your typical summer storm that you see at Lake Tahoe. It threw a lot of people off. People weren’t anticipating it.”
As of late Monday, the Coast Guard and El Dorado County Sheriff’s Department released few details on the disaster, including the names of the victims. They said 10 people were riding in the boat, near Emerald Bay, on the southwest shore of the lake. Seven were recovered dead, two were taken to the hospital, and one remains missing.
Chris-Craft boats are high-end vessels, with a long history at Lake Tahoe. A 27-foot model can cost $200,000 or more. The boat was full, but not overloaded. A Chris-Craft of that size is rated to hold eight to 10 people.
The freak storm that suddenly blew in caused chaos at the Lake. The weather went from sunny to a squall in a matter of hours, with 35 mph winds and waves 6 to 8 feet high.
“There were trees blowing nearly sideways,” said Jeff Cowen, who worked as a charter fishing boat captain on the lake for eight years. “It got super cold super quick. There were snow flakes flying around for an hour or so. My wife was working on a tour boat. When they got back to shore she was greeted with a pretty big hug from my son. He said, ‘thank God you made it back.'”
The big waves were caused by strong winds blowing from north to south across the 22-mile-long lake — the opposite direction from their usual pattern.
Numerous boats broke off their floating moorings in the South Shore area, sending them crashing on the beaches near Camp Richardson and other popular locations.
Lake Tahoe sits at 6,224 feet elevation in the Sierra. During snowy winter storms, big waves are common. Some people even surf those rough conditions. But Saturday was the first weekend of summer.
“I’ve known captains for decades and they said they never have seen anything like this,” said Cowen, who now works at the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency. “Eight-foot waves in the summer are practically unheard of. I’ve only seen them maybe once or twice in 30 years up here.”
Adding to the peril in a sudden big storm, the water temperatures at Lake Tahoe are cold. The water at Rubicon Bay, near the site of the accident, was a chilly 58 degrees on Saturday.
“The water is colder than people think,” Cowen said. “It can cause hypothermia or cardiac arrest. There is still snow on the mountains. The rivers are still running strong. Most of the top of the lake is still snow melt so it is cold.”
An average of seven people drown in Lake Tahoe every year due to cold water shock, according to the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency.
Last August, Francisco Villa, 39, a San Jose father of three, drowned in Lake Tahoe on the east shore at Bonsai Rock near Sand Harbor.
“He was a loving and dedicated father to his three beautiful girls,” his family said in a statement on Go Fund Me. “A shattering tragedy in their tender young lives. A devastating loss to all the family and friends.”
On Monday, authorities in Placer County identified three men who drowned while on a hiking trip after jumping into Rattlesnake Falls, near Soda Springs, in a forested area about 15 miles northwest of Lake Tahoe. They were Matthew Schoenecker and Valentino Creus of Los Angeles and Matthew Anthony of New York City.
California has 3,000 lakes and 25,000 miles of rivers.
When boating, life jackets help improve the risk of survival. Of the 75 people who died in boating accidents in 2022 and 2023 in California, 22 were wearing a life jacket, while 41 were not. The other 12 are unknown.
California state law requires children under age 13 to wear a U.S. Coast Guard-approved life jacket while on any moving recreational vessel. That includes boats, kayaks, canoes and personal watercraft. Adults are generally not required to wear life jackets but the boat operator must have enough on board for each person.
Authorities have not said whether the victims in Saturday’s tragedy were wearing life jackets.
“Suspending a search is always a difficult decision to make and weighs heavily on each Coast Guard member involved,” Cmdr. David Herndon, a search and rescue mission coordinator assigned to Coast Guard Sector San Francisco, said in a news release Sunday. “Our thoughts and prayers are with the families and loved ones of those involved in the boat capsize.”