PORTLAND, Oregon — A scheduled boat parade supporting President Trump attracted dozens of boaters to the Willamette River Sunday afternoon.
Organizers say a bunch of "local patriots" helped organize the event, but didn't respond to further questions in an e-mail sent from KGW.
Similar boat parades were held around the country over the weekend.
Jean Singer was out on the river on Sunday, but was not part of the parade.
"We were just out because it was a nice day and we haven't been out on the Willamette all summer," she said.
Singer was boating with a friend when she started seeing a large group of boats headed her way. She says it was anything but a parade.
"I would not consider it a parade, I think that's something that should be clarified," said Singer. "A parade is something that is single file, slow moving. What we experienced was 10 or 20 boats moving at fairly high speeds for the area just coming at us and the waves were huge, it was more like being on an ocean."
Singer says she took her boat into a no wake zone to get away from the boats. She noticed others on paddle boards and in kayaks getting rocked by the waves.
"I think it was unsafe, the boating itself was unsafe for the conditions," Singer said.
Further down river, Dan Cole, his partner and some friends with their children were sailing on his boat near downtown. They had just undocked from the River Place Marina and had started heading back to the Columbia River.
"When we were leaving, all of a sudden in front of us like a wall of boats," said Cole. "Like maybe 50 boats, maybe 100. They were taking up the entire river from side to side."
Video captured by a witness on the shore shows a boat taking on water during the parade and eventually sinking. Those on board scrambled to jump off as the boat became fully submerged.
According to the Multnomah County Sheriff's Office the boat did not appear to be a part of the parade and everyone on board was rescued before they arrived and there were no injuries.
The sheriff's office says they are still investigating.
A similar boat parade is scheduled for September 13 at 1 p.m., but a location has not been set.
"If there is gonna be another event, my hope is they would put out more awareness so people know that that's coming so they could make a choice about whether they want to be out there or not," Singer said.