Two California men died after their speedboat crashed into the banks of the Colorado River Tuesday afternoon, according to the Mohave County Sheriff’s Office.
According to the sheriff’s office, Noah Welch, 33, and James Rutherford Jr., 53, were boating north “at a high rate of speed” when their boat lost control near the river’s Topock Gorge. The gorge is a hilly region where the river separates Arizona and California.
According to the sheriff’s office, the watercraft, a 25-foot Dave’s Custom Boat, collided with rocky banks on the Arizona side of the river, north of Lake Havasu. At roughly 4:50 p.m., authorities responded and recovered the boat from the California shoreline’s reeds.
One of the men was pronounced dead at the spot, and the other died later at a nearby hospital.
Welch’s social media page describes him as a Roseville (Placer County) resident who enjoys motorcycles and spending time outdoors. A vigil for Welch was set at 6 p.m. Wednesday at his motorcycle repair shop, Welch Motor Sports.
In previous photos, Welch can be seen boating at high speeds on the Sacramento River and Folsom Lake in what looks to be the same boat that crashed on Tuesday. In one October tweet, Welch stated that he “got to show” two pals “what 100 mph on the water feels like today.”
Leave a Reply