Love Sailing

We had arrived in the Precuil River after an aborted attempt to go to Salcombe, on Thursday morning. Because l was possibly suffering from post dramatic stress, l hadn’t slept very well after the fire. I felt well enough in myself but only with 2-3hrs a night the past month, l was definitely needing to sleep. And being aboard l had aways slept very well. So it wasn’t any surprise to Vicki l slept most of the afternoon away. In the evening we played Scrabble and opened a bottle of red. I then followed this with 9 solid hours of sleep over night.

Next day we went down River by dinghy to St Mawes for a pub lunch at The Rising Sun. And some shopping from the co-op afterwards. The forecast was for 4 days of strong easterly winds to follow Friday. So we were going to hunker down and wait until the the winds ease before moving again. But l couldn’t lounge around for days, l needed to get off Elektra and go walking.

So the next day after another good night’s sleep, before Vicki was awake, l took the dinghy ashore and had a good walk around St Anthony in Roseland headland. I might have overdone it a little, it was a little further than l had thought, but a good walk nonetheless. Of course after brunch, l slept for a few more hours! In the evening we played Scrabble again, l was having a wining streak as Vicki hadn’t one since we were in Scilly. But she didn’t seem to mind.

After another good night’s sleep, l went walking again, this time l walked around St Mawes, another time a bit too far but a nice walk just the same. Back to Elektra for brunch. Today on the cards was some Cruising Association work. Somehow at the beginning of the year l had got myself involved with the starting up of the southwest section after 4-5 years of the section being dormant. I made it absolutely clear from the get go that l didn’t want any leading role but l was willing to help out if l could. 6 members came together to form “Team SW” and a social/meeting arranged so we could pick a leader. Nobody wanted the job, but somehow l must have said OK!

I have in the past started up the SW Cornwall Section of the Hurley Owners Association from phoning up members. I was on the HOA committee for about 7 years. And l nearly got involved with the Sadler and Starlight Owners Association soon after buying our Sadler but someone else stepped forward before me.

Anyway from not wanting a leading role to taking up the CA SW section secretary role, something differently went wrong! But any Association is run by volunteers for the enjoyment of the members. And if l am doing my job right, l am arranging for events to entertain members. Providing the members are happy, l have done my job.

Since “Team SW” was formed in April, getting things moving from a standing start had been slow but a Fowey Rally for September had been arranged  And a CA talk in Torquay, and now we were in the process of arranging a CA social in Falmouth. So things were moving in the right direction and the team were hoping for better in 2026.

The whole Team SW are keen sailors and as such we want to be away sailing when we can, so it is a Team effort.

After being at home for 24hrs, we arrived back aboard Elektra in the evening of the day one month on from the fire. We had big plans to leave Gillan for Salcombe early the following morning. As Vicki stowed supplies, l stowed the outboard and pulled the dinghy up onto its davits and we gently got Elektra ready for passage making the next day.

By 1900hrs she was ready and we retired below to play scrabble and opened a bottle of red. We turned in about 2300hrs.

I awoke at 0530hrs and got out, put the kettle on for a coffee, it was light enough to see outside even if the cabin was still dark. Before the coffee was made Vicki had got out and l dropped the mooring at 0610hrs. Vicki motored Elektra east out past Car Croc east cardinal buoy as l set the chart plotter up for a way point off Bolt Head 50nm away. There had been a forecast of west- southwest force 4, but with only force 2-3 we would have to motor sail which l didn’t want to do for 50nm. We started a discussion on options.

We knew there was strong easterly winds forecasted from Saturday for 4 days. We could carry on motoring or motor sailing to Salcombe or sail slowly to Fowey and either stay there of motor to Plymouth area on Friday. We could motor sail all the way to Cawsands 40nm away today, then go in the Yealm River for the easterly winds. None of the options seemed very appealing to us, as no real sailor likes motoring or motorsailing. We knew the best place to be stuck in easterly winds was the Precuil River which was just north across Falmouth Bay. It wasn’t much of a choice really, with the decision made, l turned Elektra north and stopped the engine. Now sailing at 3.5kts, Vicki went back to bed and l dropped anchor in the Precuil River at 0810hrs having logged 6.5nm. It’s difficult to improve on perfection.

As l was tidying up on deck, Vicki made breakfast which we had about 0900hrs, with the washing up done by 1000hrs, l started nodding off, l seem to sleep very well aboard but not well at home! So l went to bed for a few more hours. The plan is to stay here until the strong easterly winds have blown themselves out and then go east.

The shake down had proved to be useful. We had identified and drawn a diagram of some new switches, there were also some we hadn’t worked out but apart from the top of mast anchor light, everything else seemed to be working.

On Sunday we went to St Mawes via dinghy and had a pub Sunday lunch and when we arrived back Peter had anchored Tela his S26 beside Elektra, it’s a mini Sadler Rally Peter exclaimed. The next day Peter had planned to go out to Scilly. But put off by the forecast he stayed and just went for a sail in Carrick Roads. When he came back he said he had seen force 7 on his wind instrument. I said it normally stronger winds in the Roads than in Falmouth Bay. I had a lovely long walk in the afternoon.

The following day Peter did leave but an uncomfortable sea pushed him into Mount’s Bay and he anchored next to St Michael’s Mount. We left a little later in Elektra and had a good sail back to Gillan. Once the tide came in enough we loaded the dinghy and motored into the beach and then home for showers.

It’s not something l have done before, have a shakedown cruise halfway through a sailing season. But after the fire and Elektra’s rewire the switchboard was a completely new set up to me, like sailing a new yacht! 18 switches, only 9 were labelled. Rupert our new marine electrician had fitted Elektra’s rewire before he disappeared on holiday, he had ordered new labels for the switches without them but they hadn’t arrived before he left. Not that l was worried about them at the time as we lucky to get Elektra back so quickly.

When l motored Elektra into St Anthony beach the morning before, l thought the new chart plotter was broken, but this turned out to be a switch l hadn’t turned on!

To add to this the set up was all new to us, new wiring, switchboard, Victron solar controller, charger and battery monitor. All of which l needed to learn how they worked, and understand what l was looking at.

So on the 9th of August, we set off for a few days aboard, a nice westerly force 4-5 to send Elektra on her way across Falmouth Bay in a north-northeast direction. I just unrolled the genoa for this, and Elektra logged between 3-5kts across the bay. And we motored up the Precuil River and dropped anchor 1.33hrs later, having logged 6.25nm. We did our usual jobs after arrival in an anchorage, and Vicki cooked dinner.

I started trying to work out which switch do what job, drawing a diagram but there was still 6 switches which l didn’t know and one of them had to be the anchor light, but which one? A few years ago l had replaced the lamp with a light sensitive lamp so it wouldn’t come on until dark in any case. Once dark came l switched on all the of the 6 switches and went out in the dinghy to see if any lights had come on but no was the answer 🤔 At which point l got my emergency/spare anchor light out and used it instead.

We turned in about 2300hrs and l went to sleep very quickly, this turned out to be the best nights sleep l had had since the fire almost 4 weeks before.

The following night, I found the stereo radio was hot after I had been charging my mobile phone (I thought possibly because we stow the tea cosy on top of the back part of it) Anyway later in the evening before bed after lissoning to the radio all evening, it had cooled down, but not wanting to risk anything, I turned it off on the main switchboard. It wasn’t until following morning that I found out the stereo switch also is the USB ports, so when I turned the strereo off before bed I also turned the anchor light off!

I motored Elektra back from Falmouth to Gillan Harbour after she had been rewired at the end of July. I was lucky to find an Marine Electrician who was between jobs and could do the rewiring over a weekend. It was nice to find out that the new eletronics hadn’t been effected by the fire.

Then I spent the next 4 days washing the cabin hot soapy water (under the powder is a sticky surface). On Wedensday I replace Elektra’s bow nav light, sometime between us abandoning Elektra off the Lizard Pt and us picking Elektra off a mooring in Helford River the fitting had been broken. This seemed like an easy job but the light was out of reach on deck from the bow because of the furrling gear and from standing in a dinghy was above head hight, if the dinghy would have stayed still it would have been easier! Lol, I did manage it in the end even if it did take me 5hrs!

On Friday at about 0500hrs, I motored Elektra into St Anthony beach to let her dry out so we could reload her cruising which had all been home for washing and cleaning. I came back home and loaded the pick-up and around 1000hrs I drove back to St Anthony with Vicki to load the gear.

At about 1230hrs we left St Anthony for home again after removing my petrol generator which I had been using for the vacuuming. It was 1500hrs before I drove back to St Anthony to wait for Elektra to float off again which she did at around 1600hrs. I picked up her mooring and attached the dinghy before dropping again to go for a sail. It was only about 5nm over 1.25hrs, but it was lovely to be out sailing again after all the hard work.

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.

I had used an old vacuum cleaner to clean up most of the powder, this finished the vac and so I ordered a new one online which arrived on Friday On Thursday the boat yard helped me get my petrol generator aboard and on Friday they moved Elektra out onto her seasonal mooring. On Saturday I cut our grass which I hadn’t cut for over 4 weeks and on Sunday I took the new vacuum cleaner out to Elektra and hovered out everywhere I could get too.

My sleep pattern had been totaly messed up! My pre fire sleep pattern was sleep 2300-0700hrs every night, by Saturday evening I had only had 21hrs of sleep since the fire. And the following week not much more sleep.

On the Monday morning the marine electrician came and looked at Elektra, in order to do a quote for the insurance. On Tuesday his quote arrived and on Wednesday I sent all the paperwork and photos I had to the insurance for claim.

It was nearly midnight before we got home on Sunday night, the ambilance crew had very kindly offered to take us home from Lizard RNLI Station, and when we arrived I had to break a window to get in because we had left almost everything aboard Elektra when we abandoned her. There wasn’t any milk for even a coffee, it seemed like the best thing to do was go to bed, but I couldn’t sleep! So I got out and did some computer work and went back to bed at about 0400hrs, slept for 2hrs before waking up coughing because of the powder from the extinguishers, so got out. On Sunday while we were on passage I had contacted my shore contact (Patti) to say we had left Scilly and were on passage to Gillan, our eta wasn’t until 2300-2400hrs. Patti replied and said she was on holiday out of the country and 2hrs ahead, so don’t expect a reply, but safe journey. At 2140hrs Sunday, I sent a text saying “we had a problem, but all OK, tell you about it later” at the time we were sitting in the lifeboat station. So at 0625hrs on Monday I told Patti the story of our problem!

Then about 0720hrs I decided to walk to St Anthony (it would help clear my head) to get some stuff from Elektra, but before hand I looked around for spare keys for as much as possible. Then I walked to St Anthony, when walking along the road which overlooks the moorings, I couldn’t see Elektra out there. And talking to Anthony the boss of the boatyard, he hadn’t been in when the Lizard lifeboat tried to contact him. So now it was search for Elektra time, I used the spare key to drive the pick-up to Helford and hopfully find Elektra. And there she was about 3 mooring into the river, her foresail flapping in the increasing wind. I phoned Anthony, who had a shortage of avalible help, so I suggested I help bring Elektra around from Helford River to Gillan Harbour, which he thought would work. I tried to phone Vicki to tell her what was happening but no reply. The tow went well and we moored Elektra between the waiting mooring and the shore to let her dry out. Only then did I have a chance to look in the cabin of the yacht we had abandoned aprox 15hrs before. I started packing bags to take home, cleared the fridge and picked up Vicki’s tablet and phone, all the keys, everything was going to have to be removed and cleaned or washed before use again, white powder covered all! I didn’t have long because the tide was going out and it’s difficult when alone to get bags off from cockpit to dinghy, I took what I could and locked her up and drove home.

After brunch, I phoned my insurance broker to report and start claim process, I also phoned my engineer and told him about the fire, he was going to be down at St Anthony on Tuesday working and would have a look. I returned to Elektra now dried out with more bags to fill, this time I started to remove the items from the quarter berth, the powder was about an inch deep in there! We had always used the quarter berth for stowage as the berth was difficult to get in and out of because of the chart table. In the quarter berth was all my tools and spares, the rolled up cockpit encloser, a bag of recycling which we still had from Scilly, spare lifejackets, a plastic folding box, a folding sack trolly, a new 30lt ruck sack, a new empty grab bag! All of which was covered in a thick layer of powder. As I moved this out into the cockpit, I think the powder looked like smoke as it blew away in the wind and David J asked if I was OK. By now I was getting grouchy with lack of sleep and the powder was really awful stuff to deal with, and I don’t think my answer was very nice.

I unloaded more bags and loaded them into my pick-up and drove home, most of this stuff went into my shed to deal with later, with only a few bags coming indoors for Vicki to deal with. I wasn’t doing anymore today and went for a shower, afterwards I was sitting on the bed and noticed a WhatsApp message, it was from David P who knew we had been in Scilly and asked if we were back in Gillan, David was one of the first people I told or texted to about it and it was surprising how much it helped with processing what had happend.

The rest of the week continued with much of the same, my engineer Anthony had a look at Elektra’s engine on Tuesday evening and said the engine harness was good, only a earth cable from the batteries will need replacing. I had tried to contact the eletronic company who did the work on Elektra in the winter, looking for them to do a quote for repairs, but now a week on, they haven’t reponded! I asked a sailing friend Rob, if he could contact Bob Orchard for me as I knew they were friends. Bob told Rob he was winding up his buisness but gave another name and number to contact. So by the end of Wednesday, I had contacted a local marine electrician who was away on holiday but was coming back at the weekend (Rupert had called me from his hoiliday and asked for photos sent on WhatsApp) From the photo’s he said the job was doable and he said he would contact me Monday.

The damage seemed to be mainly wiring and the alternator diode which were burnt in fire. The fire had spat into a new ruck sack which was stowed in the berth, but that had saved everything else under it. The cockpit encloser was rolled up and stowed in the berth, the canvas was fine but the plastic windows had suffered because of the heat of the fire. The fire had blackend the ceiling above the alternator diode. There was powder everywhere and the cabin needed to be emptied and totally cleaned. The only other damage was external, the bow nav light was broken.

We had been in Scilly for over 3 weeks before looking for the weather to return to the mainland. With a weekend of east winds the Scilly silly season had arrived, St Mary’s Harbour was full and Porth Loo to the North had 27 yachts at anchor. We thought the time had come to leave. But the weather wasn’t looking good, now blowing east wind the forecast for next week was strong southwest winds lt’s not a hop down the coast, crossing from Scilly to Lizard Point is like being in the Atlantic ocean and anything stronger than force 5 is going to mean very big waves.

It was the morning of Sunday the 13th of July that l saw a possible weather window for the crossing. With the forecast of the easterly winds to die down and move to southeast force 5-6, then south force 4, then southwest force 3-5 before picking up on Monday. I spoke to Vicki when she awoke, and we agreed to leave around lunchtime.

It was 1120hrs when l pulled up Elektra’s anchor and as l stowed Vicki motored Elektra out of Porth Loo and south then southeast out of St Mary’s Sound into a head wind. It was rough once out of the Sound for about 10nm but slowly eased as we went east, to start with we were motor sailing to keep her going though the waves, then as time went on the wind became Southerly force 3-4. Then south-southwest and very light and so we were motoring. But slowly it picked up from the southwest, we could of been sailing but we continued to motor sail as we knew we would be arriving after dark and the less night time sailing the better especially with all the crab pot markers around.

At around 1900hrs the wind instrument stopped working, but the next time l looked it was working again. I wrote in the log at 1920hrs by then we had a southwest force 3-4 and we were 3nm west of the Lizard WP having logged 42nm. At 1930hrs the chart plotter went blank, it was then l noticed smoke coming from the cabin! And quickly went to investigate. I opened the  engine box and discovered fire🔥

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