Sailboat burns, sinks at Anacapa Island

Jul 15 2010

Sailboat burns, sinks at Anacapa Island

Published by Capt. Dan at 12:14 under Channel Islands,Sailing,safety,safety at sea,towing

A Hunter sailboat catches fire, sinks at Frenchy’s 7/8/2010

The Coast Guard and Vessel Assist responded to a report of a burning vessel last week. The preliminary report said that the captain was sailing alone, had anchored in Frenchy’s Cove and had started cooking on his rail-mounted barbecue.

The captain reported that he fell asleep and awoke to find the boat in flames. He abandoned ship in a small skiff and was picked up by a Good Samaritan. He was subsequently transferred to a Coast Guard vessel and returned to the mainland. He suffered no substantial injuries.

The following day, Vessel Assist, Ventura refloated the vessel, policed up the debris and towed it back to Ventura Harbor.

————

Comment

That had to be one scary experience for the captain. We’re hoping he was well insured and glad that he wasn’t hurt, at least not badly. We’re also very thankful that Capt. Rob of R Escape has mounted a fire extinguisher on our boat about 5′ from our barbecue.There are also two in our galley area below.

Cooking is the number one cause of fire on diesel powered boats and a stove without an adjacent fire extinguisher is a big oversight. In the case of a rail-mounted barbecue, it’s probably impossible to safely turn off the propane when the stove is engulfed in flames. But there are three ways to turn off your galley gas – the burner control, the solenoid and turning off the tank in the lazerette. Definitely a topic worthy of a crew briefing.

I’ve always been confident that I could survive cooking with a rail-mounted barbecue, afterall, it’s mounted on the rail outboard of the boat. With the top on it, it’s not likely to flame the bimini. Of course, I try not to fall asleep (or pass out) while I’m cooking as I’m partial to rare beef and unblemished gelcoat.

I’m fairly sure that there are more lessons to be learned from this incident.

———-

Sail Channel Islands

Tags: barbecue, Coast Guard, fire at sea, Good Samaritan, sank, sink, sunk, Vessel Assist

2 responses so far

2 Responses to “Sailboat burns, sinks at Anacapa Island”

# Daveon 18 Aug 2010 at 13:15

Seriously… Rob mounted the fire extinguisher for you?
# Ryanon 18 Aug 2010 at 13:21

Great safety recommendations, and glad to hear no one was injured.

Trackback URI | Comments RSS