Survivor recounts boat rescue on Wapsi River

All Tyler Snobl could hear was the relentless, churning water of the Wapsipinicon River.

Clinging to the capsized fishing boat after he and two friends went over a roller dam, Snobl could see the rescuers along the shoreline. But all he heard for nearly an hour, until he was rescued, was the raging water.

“If I ever rode in a washing machine, that'd probably be what it would be like,” said Snobl, who was recovering from bumps and bruises Monday. “You don't know which way you're going, which way you're flipping, or which way is up.”

About six hours earlier Snobl, 27, of Cedar Rapids, was enjoying the warm sunshine. Former schoolmates Trent Holub, 32, and Jeremy Domer, 23, both of Central City, were also on board. Another friend, Dalton Price, 20, of Robins, and his girlfriend were on a jet ski nearby.

The group stopped at a sand bar between Central City and Troy Mills for a while. By 8:30 p.m., they were back in Central City. The sun was dropping in the west, and they were ready to call it quits.

Holub, who was operating the boat, and Domer had been drinking beer, Snobl said. Holub got the boat too close to the roller dam, and before long, the current was pulling them toward the edge.

It was too late now.

In a panic, Snobl jumped into the water. Holub and Domer stayed on the boat, but it capsized and tossed them into the water, too. All three men bounced around in middle of the circulating current, about 40 yards from shore.

“It was a split-second,” Snobl said. “Boom, I'm in the water, boom I'm off the dam. Then, it was just swimming to stay alive.”

Snobl saw one of them and reached out to grab him, but the water sucked them down again. He wouldn't see his friends in the water again that night.

“I was kicking like hell to get up to the surface so I could get my breath,” Snobl said. “That's when I found the boat.”

Firemen trained in water rescues hurried to the scene after a witness who was fishing called 911. Snobl had no idea where his friends were, but he had a good grip on the boat and had found a life vest that was inside.

The boat was still capsized, but letting go would be too risky, Snobl thought.

“I was worried about what happened to them,” Snobl said. “The last thing I wanted to do was go to a funeral.”

For about an hour, Snobl held onto the boat with both hands. Muddy water splashed him in the face, and he could smell gasoline that had spilled from the gas can on the boat.

Rescuers finally got a rope to him, and he was able to wrap it around his waist. He caught a second rope, but couldn't hold on when the current sucked him back under again.

That's when the firemen pulled him to safety with the first rope. Finally at the shoreline, Snobl was banged up and tired, but alive.

An ambulance took him to St. Luke's Hospital to be seen by a doctor. Domer arrived, too, but later went to University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics for a gash by his eye.

Holub, who declined medical treatment at the scene, was arrested and charged with boating while intoxicated, according to the Linn County sheriff's office. Breath tests determined his blood alcohol content was 0.111, according to a criminal complaint.

Sheriff's Sgt. Gary Van Cura said none of the men were wearing life jackets when the boat went over the dam.

Even after the scary ordeal, Snobl said he'll probably be back out on the water soon.

“It's not going to stop me,” Snobl said. “We just won't go close to the dam again.”