Man dies when boat splinters, sinks in Clear Lake

A 74-year-old man died over the Memorial Day weekend when the 32-year-old boat he was riding in broke apart and sank in Clear Lake, according to the Lake County Sheriff’s Office.

The body of James Michael Leale, of San Jose and Clearlake Park, was recovered from the lake by divers Monday. The cause of his death has yet to be determined.

Leale was riding in a 1984 “Eliminator” boat Saturday afternoon with two other men, ages 51 and 73, when the boat fell apart, sheriff’s officials said.

The boat belonged to and was being operated by the younger of the men, who is from Nice, said sheriff’s Lt. Norm Taylor. He and the other survivor were taken to separate hospitals for treatment of their injuries, sheriff’s officials said.

The men were boating between Anderson Island and Vacation Island when the incident occurred, officials said. Witnesses who phoned in the report said they saw an orange boat disappear into the water. A witness plucked two of the men from the water but the third man never surfaced, officials said.

The driver of the boat said he was traveling at about 55 mph when the boat for unknown reasons sailed up, listing to one side, then, as it struck the water coming down, broke apart.

“The bow was completely shattered,” Taylor said.

He said the boat could have been tossed askew by hitting the wake of another boat.

Witnesses gave varying accounts of how fast the boat was traveling, Taylor said. One said it was traveling at excessive speeds while another said it appeared to be moving at about 45 mph, he said. There is no speed limit on the lake, despite calls for one following a fatal 2006 boating crash involving a sailboat and a speed boat driven by a sheriff’s deputy.

The North Shore Dive Team and Marin County Dive Team conducted searches over three days, sheriff’s officials said. They located the boat on Sunday, submerged in 30 feet of water. On Monday, they found and recovered Leale’s body and retrieved the boat, officials said.

Taylor said it appeared there was degradation in the boat’s hull.

You can reach Staff Writer Glenda Anderson at 462-6473 or glenda.anderson@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @Mendo?Reporter