RACINE - A boat broke free from its dock, floated downstream and sank until only its railings were showing at about 12:15 p.m. today.

While the boat hung in limbo for several hours other boaters checked their own boats to make sure their ropes were tied properly. They also checked on their docks, many of which are entirely covered in water.

The now submerged boat was docked in the Belle Harbor Marina, just past the State Street Bridge, and barely hung onto a railing for more than two hours before it broke free.

The current pulled the boat, tilted it on its side and water started pouring in early today, said Sgt. Bill Halliday of the Racine County Sheriff's Department.

Halliday estimated the water's speed to be between 10 to 15 knots, he said.

The dock twisted and for two hours the boat hung onto a single wooden railing. A towing company checked out the situation, but couldn't do anything about it, bystanders said.

"Instead of risking anyone we are going to let nature take its course," said Halliday, while the boat was still attached to its dock.

At about 12:15 p.m. the boat broke free.

"It was a great cracking noise and it broke through," Halliday said. The boat cleared the Main Street Bridge without hitting any boats, he said.

Officers from the sheriff's department attempted to lasso the empty boat from their own boat in the middle of the river, said observer Karen O'Donnell. But that attempt failed. The officers finally lassoed the boat from the shore, she said.

Reaching down to her digital camera, O'Donnell found a picture of a group of ten people pulling on the boat's rope.

As of 1:45 p.m. today the boat was attached along the river, several hundred yards downstream from the Main Street Bridge.

It is attached next to Mark Derenne's boat and he was watching it closely.

"Right now she is just touching, and I don't know if it's going to last," Derenne said in a phone call to the sheriff's department at about 1 p.m.

Employees at Belle Harbor Marina, 32 Main St., checked all of the boats in the marina this morning, said Jeanne Derneh, manager of Belle Harbor Marina. None of the boats, other than the one sinking boat, showed signs of distress this morning, she said. Still she called boat owners to advise them to check their boats today.

"Boats do sink," Derneh said. "They don't sink often, but they do sink."

Mike Richow checked on his charter boat at 2 a.m. today.

He usually has about five ropes attached to his boat and now he has ten holding it in place.

Richow also has been continually checking the ropes to make sure they are not too tight, he said.

"People don't realize the river is getting up that high and lines are getting too tight,"

Richow said. His pier is already a foot a half underwater and he is not the only one. In front of the Fifth Street Yacht Club there are at least two dozens piers submerged.

Boater Jim Friedman, whose dock is under water, wouldn't say whether boaters should risk taking their boats out in the near future.

He did have one recommendation.

"The only suggestion you can make to (boaters) is to wear a life jacket," Friedman said.

Even when people are just out on their dock adjusting lines they should wear life jackets, he said.