Woman Drowns While 'Teak Surfing' On Lake Tapps

August 22, 2005

By KOMO Staff & News Services


SUMNER, WASH. - A 22-year-old woman drowned after going boating with
friends on Lake Tapps, officials said.

The Pierce County Medical Examiner's Office identified the woman Monday
morning as Jenda Jones, of Sumner.

She was pronounced dead Saturday evening after she was found by Pierce
County sheriff's deputies in the Tacoma Point area and rushed to Good
Samaritan Hospital in Puyallup.

Jones and another woman were "teak surfing," hanging onto the shelf at
the stern of a boat as the motor was running at a slow speed, when she
let go and slipped beneath the surface, sheriff's Sgt. Jerry R. Bates
said.

She apparently was the water 30 to 40 minutes before she was found and
was not wearing a life vest, Bates added.

Past cases of teak surfing have resulted in injury or death when riders
fall unconscious after breathing carbon monoxide from a boat's motor.

Investigators are awaiting toxicology results to determine whether
carbon monoxide was a factor in Saturday's drowning.