Following on from the last post, we were on passage from The Isles of Scilly to our home port of Gillan Harbour, on the Helford River. At 1920hrs I had writen in my log the wind was SW force 3-4, slight sea, we were 3.25nm west of our waypoint off Lizard Point and we had logged 42nm. We were motorsailing to cover as much ground as possible before dark, as I was worried about not seeing pot makers in the dark on the east side of the Lizard Peninsular.
At about 1930hrs the chart plotter when blank, I leaned forward to see what had happend to it, only to see smoke rising from the cabin, Vicki was in the cabin but hadn’t noticed, I quickly went to investigate, I stopped the engine and I opened the engine box and could see burning wires, I shut the box and grabbed the fire stick (this I had bought over the winter and had read the instructions but couldn’t remember them) now somehow I couldn’t read the instructions! I needed to put the fire out! So I grabbed the 1kg powder extinguisher in the cabin, pulled the safety clip, opened the engine box and pressed the lever, almost instantly the fire was out. I leaned on the chart table and I was trembling, I noted in my log about discovering a fire and then called Falmouth CG on ch16 to report we had had an eletrical fire which I had put out.
The duty officer asked me did I want assistance, I was thinking though this as we talked, we didn’t know if we had a working engine, but we were still logging 4.5-5kts under sail, but would we have any lights when we needed them later? It was then I noticed more smoke and told the officer I was investigating. Pulling items out of the quarter berth which we use for stowage, I could see more fire, and picked up the extinguisher again, this fire was half way down the quarter berth and up against the celing on the engine side, I gave it a blast of powder, and again it was out! But it started burning again, so another blast and it was out and that was the extinguisher empty. Vicki by this time had put on a jumper, a lifejacket and was sitting in the cockpit, I have always wore a lifejacket while sailing since 2006 having found out in a emergency you don’t have time to put it on. I said to Vicki, “there is a 2kg extinguisher in the cockpit locker” which she pulled out for me, as I inspecting again, the fire was alight again, I can’t remember how many times I tried to put out the fire but it was lots. All this time I could hear on ch16 the CG officer tasking the Lizard lifeboat and knew help was coming. When finally the extinguisher was empty, by which point the cabin was full of powder in the air and through this I could still see an orange glow. The CG officer asked “did we have a liferaft” I said “no but we have a dinghy” he suggested we abandon. With the centre of the fire only 18-24″ from the gas locker and the fact that I didn’t think I had put the fire out, I didn’t need telling twice! In the cabin. I was coughing from the powder and needed to get out so I grabbed the hand held VHF out in the cockpit and switched it on.
My next task was to lower the dinghy which was on davits into the water and climb in to release the tackle and hold the dinghy as still as possible for Vicki to get in, by this time the tide must have pushed us into the unsettled water of the Lizard Point and one second I was standing up arms out stretched hanging on to the rail, the next second I was sitting down with the rail at eye level, somehow we both got aboard without getting wet. I then untied the dinghy, I was expecting an explosion, so let Elektra go!
About 5mins after we abandoned Lizard RNLB contacted me on ch16 to comfirm we were in the dinghy and how many were aboard, then 2-3mins after the their call Vicki saw the lifeboat. We were in our 2.7m inflatable RIB, lying low on the floor, Vicki on the starboard side with her head at the stern and me the opposite with my head at the bow, it was very snug! When the Lifeboat arrived (being local to the area we know some of the crew and there was a bit of light hearted banter with the crew, lol), there was a lot of slop and them getting close was difficult, Vicki had a rebound wave dump onto her, but they managed to get the dinghy along side and tied on. I stood up and climbed aboard the lifeboat and one of the crew got in the dinghy to help Vicky from below as I and another crew helped her from above.
Both now aboard, we were taken into the lifeboat cabin and given medical checks, by this time knowing Vicki was safe I was worried about Elektra, but I was told by one of the crew, we were the important ones! So I put Elektra out of my mind and went with the flow. The Lifeboat crew dropped us off at their station at about 2130hrs for the station crew to look after and then went back to Elektra.
After more checks at the RNLI station a ambilance crew were called to check us out just in case. We had abandoned Elektra with just the clothes we were wearing, we both were wearing lifejackets and I had my wallet, mobile in my pockets and I had the handheld VHF, what we didn’t have were keys to get in at home. The ambilance crew offered to run us home and when we got there I broke a window to get in.
Elektra was found without a fire, it seemed I had done enough to put out the fire but didn’t know it. As Elektra was floating without lights, she was considered a hazard to shipping, so she was taken under tow to Helford River and placed on a mooring.
To be continued…..
Love Sailing 