VHF, I’m not a great user of the VHF Radio, I did the VHF/DFC course back in 2006 and I listen on ch16 to the endless calls to Falmouth CG asking for a radio check. But when we had a fire, calling Falmouth CG was the 2nd thing I did after writing in my log, after I thought I had put the fire out. At the time we were sailing at 4.5-5kts and I thought we could carry on with our passage. The duty officer asked if l was declaring an emergency and I was thinking about it as we talked, I have always independent, not really a team player and I don’t like asking for help. Event’s took over with the discovery of the second fire and the duty officer declared an emergency on our behalf, tasking the Lizard lifeboat. So at first sign of a problem get in contact with your local Coast Guard.
Fire extinguishers, when it comes to fighting a fire, simple is best! During the winter I had bought a fire stick, I read the instructions and put it on its braket, but when the fire started I couldn’t remember how it worked and for some reason I had forgotten how to read! The 1kg powder extingisher was dead simple, pull the safety clip and press the leaver. So simple is best. If you don’t know, or any of your crew don’t know how to opperate any safety equipment before you grap it, it’s useless to you! Reading the instructions on the fire stick again after the fire, I know just how it operates now. But this wouldn’t have helped much with this fire as it works for 50 seconds and then stops. With the powder, I was blasting it with powder, putting the fire out and stopping, then the fire would start again and so on, possibly for as long as 1/2hr! Powder extinguishers are horible to use and horible to clear up after a fire, but are very efective, by the end of the first week I had already replaced the used ones plus added another 2kg one.
Not to put anyone off grabbing and extinguisher when needed but the powder from the extinguishers is truely awlful stuff. I found vacuuming up was the best method, but under the powder is a skicky layer which needs to be washed with hot soapy water. I had an old vacuum cleaner which the powder destroyed! So bought a new one, but after just one day the filters were clogged up and needed blown out a compressed air.
After the fire I thought I should have turned the power off before, but it was comforting knowing help was on the way via ch16. But my marine electrician said once the fire started, there would have been lots of dead shorts and turning the power off wouldn’t of worked anyway, the fire only went out he said once it ran out of battery power and what I did was stop the fire speading to the GRP. Many have said since, I should have disconnected the batteries, but this really wasn’t an option as I would have had to empty the quarter berth, removed the battery lids and got tools out to do so all at the same time as fighting the fire, which was keeping me busy on its own!
I have since been told, a turned off gas bottles dosen’t explode unless in a major fire, by which time, you wouldn’t be aboard anyway. The fear of a gas explosion was my main reason for abandoning her after being advised to do so by the duty CG officer. By then the cabin being full of powder and smoke we couldn’t enter but we could have stayed aboard in the cockpit. Back to this saying “don’t get in a lifefaft (in our case a dinghy) until you have to step up into it”
I had bought a new grab bag over last winter because we had planned to cross the Celtic Sea to Ireland this season (our plans were scuppered with Vicki’s medical treatment). We haven’t ever used a grab bag since starting cruising back in 2006, and we didn’t have our new one packed up during our crossing back to the mainland from Scilly, so when we abandoned Elektra, we left with almost nothing! When we got home later, we didn’t have any keys and I had to break a window to get in. I will be packing it up with all our essentials before all passages in future.
Ill afects, lots of friends said afterwards “you must have been scared.” I can honesty say no, as I was too busy dealing with the fire! But, I had the shakes for a couple of days afterwards and was coughing from the powder extinguishers for a week (in some ways, a dust mask attached to each extinguisher would be a good idea). But my main problem has been, not sleeping well! Over the first 2 week’s I only slept 40 hours. I think I’m sleeping better now, but I used to sleep solid for 7 hours every night.
I have always used professionals for any new wirering, l had an electronics company, “PRS” to fit Elektra’s new Garmin electronics in November 2024. They had the misfortune of disconnecting a number of USB sockets and cabin radio in the process. I now know electronic companies should never be employed to do boat electrical work, because they haven’t any clue what they are doing! “PRS” knew about Elektra’s fire aboard soon after it happened on 13th July because l tried to contact them, but now, two months later, l still haven’t had any reply. And they never did get the new electronics working properly.
Love Sailing 