Boat runs aground at Lake Mead; 4 die

Karen Zekan

Tuesday, March 24, 1998 | 9:56 a.m.

National Park Service rangers and criminal investigators were expected today to continue combing the Lake Mead shoreline in Arizona for clues to explain why a high-performance power boat ran aground, killing four people and injuring three.

The "Underestimated," a 47-foot Fountain craft, was determined by Mohave County Sheriff's investigators to have been traveling between 50 and 60 mph when it slammed into the rocky area about six miles upstream from Hoover Dam, northeast of Burro Point.

A separate party of lake visitors discovered the wrecked boat shortly before 10 a.m. Monday and notified authorities. Three of the deceased were found floating in the water and the fourth was on the shore, said Karen Whitney, spokeswoman for the National Park Service.

Three of the dead were identified as Camille Yost, 41, of Henderson, Michael Kelley, 26, of Las Vegas, and Eugene Cason, 26, of Las Vegas. The identity of the fourth person killed is being withheld until relatives are notified.

The survivors were identified as Michael Yost, 44, the boat's owner, Richard Reynierse, 24, and Ronald Surls, 27. All three were listed in serious but stable condition today at University Medical Center.

Whitney said today that investigators believe Yost was driving the boat when the accident occurred.

"It's easy to run aground at night, even if you're going slow," Whitney said. "But it's rare for an accident to be this severe and end with fatalities."

The crash was the first deadly accident on the lake so far this year.

The accident, under investigation by the National Park Service, occurred when the boat hit the shore at a 45-degree angle. About 20 feet of its front end was destroyed.

Whitney said Yost, the boat's owner, had taken the boat out of Callville Bay and that he is known to trailer his boat to and from his Las Vegas Valley home. He and his party had gathered earlier at the Lake Mead Resort and Marina and had left after several hours to return in the boat to Callville Bay, Whitney said.

Yost was described by Whitney and friends who gathered in the lobby of UMC Monday evening as an experienced boater. Yost's mother told the SUN that Yost's wife died in the crash, leaving behind two young children who were not on board.

"He knew that area so well," Jacqueline Lear said of Yost while waiting outside the trauma ward.

Lear said her sister had been with the victims earlier on Sunday when the group was traveling on the lake in two boats, she said.

"My sister left them to go back to her boat to go to sleep. When she woke up this morning, she noticed their stuff was gone and was going to gas up her boat and go look for them when she heard that their boat had been wrecked," Lear said.

Whitney said there are several navigational aids along Lake Mead to help guide boaters while on the water, among them a lighted beacon on the shore about a mile south of where the crash happened.

"They ran aground in the dark," Whitney said. "There wasn't a moon that night."

Unlike the south and west shorelines of Boulder Basin, the Burro Point area is one that doesn't see a tremendous amount of recreational use, Whitney said, primarily because there is no vehicle access to the site.

"It's where people go when they don't want to experience side-by-side boating."

Fountain powerboats are considered the Rolls Royces of the water world, offering a configuration of up to three 800-horsepower engines in its top-of-the line model, which sells for as much as $414,000.

The 47-foot Fountain Lightning that crashed at Lake Mead is among the brand's largest.

Whitney said media from across the country were calling about the crash, many of them having received erroneous reports that multiple boats belonging to out-of-town visitors had been involved.

"While there are a lot of relieved families tonight that their loved ones weren't involved, there are many local families whose lives are affected by this tragedy," Whitney said.