Tourist injured in Hilton Head watercraft crash. Here’s what state investigation found

Two Yamaha WaveRunners collided off Hilton Head Island, breaking an 18-year-old rider’s leg and causing $7,000 in fiberglass damage to the watercraft, according to a South Carolina Department of Natural Resources incident report.

Sea Monkeys Watersports, an equipment rental service located at Hilton Head Harbor RV Resort & Marina, owned the watercraft, according to the report. The report said the crash happened in the Calibogue Sound in front of Windmill Harbour on May 29. That same day, people at the marina captured on video people carting an apparently injured person off a dock and into a personal vehicle.

The report said the rider, from Duncan, South Carolina, went to the hospital for a broken femur and corrective surgery. The rider was the backseat passenger on one Yamaha WaveRunner, operated by a 17-year-old rider, when the other watercraft, operated by a 19-year-old rider, hit its side. The other riders weren’t injured. All three teenagers share the same last name.

The Department of Natural Resources said they were notified June 4 of the incident via a submitted video and tipsters. Three days after, on June 7, DNR charged owner Neil Turner with failing to report a watercraft accident within 48 hours of the event, according to the Bluffton Magistrate Court. The department completed the incident report on June 8.

Despite Turner’s charge, the incident report didn’t include if he failed to report the incident. It solely mentioned a negligent watercraft operation citation for the rider of the Yamaha WaveRunner who hit the 18-year-old.

Turner paid $1,087 in fines. He is also the owner and operator of Lowcountry Ferry, the service that contracts the public ferry between Hilton Head and Daufuskie islands. A failure to report charge can sometimes result in DNR suspending a person’s boating privileges. In this case, Turner’s boating privileges won’t be suspended because despite owning the rental company, he wasn’t operating the Yamaha WaveRunner, according to a DNR spokesperson.

The incident marks the second time in five years that people were injured while renting Sea Monkeys Watersports boats. In 2019, a 20-year-old tourist on a Jet Ski died after being hit by another Jet Ski while on a guided tour.

Calls to Sea Monkeys Watersports June 6 and July 1 went unanswered. Voicemail was not operational.