Recovery efforts continued today on Lake Lanier for a man who went missing late Friday after he jumped from a sailboat in the overnight hours early Saturday and is presumed drowned.

The search was expected to begin again at first light, according to Robin Hill, a spokeswoman with the Department of Natural Resources. Crews from the DNR, Hall County Fire Services and dive teams from the Hall County and Forsyth County sheriff’s offices are taking part.

The crews' activity will be limited to sonar searches due to heavy weekend boat traffic in the area, which creates dangerous conditions for divers, said Sgt. Stephen Wilbanks, spokesman for the sheriff’s office. Crews likely will mark sonar targets for closer inspection when dive operations resume Monday morning.

Hall County deputies responded to the call just after midnight Saturday in the Lake Lanier Islands area after a man entered the water from a boat, became distressed, went under and did not resurface, according to Wilbanks.

WSB-TV has identified the victim as Jeffrey Nause, 44.

Hill said the search was suspended late Saturday afternoon due to heavy boat traffic.

Investigators and dive team members spent the night and early morning gathering information. They began their search just after noon Saturday, Wilbanks said.

Hill said the area of the lake being searched is near Legacy Lodge on Lake Lanier Islands. Water depths in the area range from 70 to 140 feet.

Wilbanks said the case is being handled as an accidental drowning.

Georgia Department of Resources Sgt. Mike Burgamy says Nause was on the sailboat with a woman and another couple before he vanished beneath the water. He said Nause may have been drinking.

The incident remains under investigation by the Hall County Sheriff’s Office, Criminal Investigations Division.

Five people already have drowned this year on Lake Lanier, one earlier this month. There also have been five boating-related fatalities on the lake.