Three rescued from burning yacht

[seafox]

That is pretty scarey

[dory36]

Yep -- everybody checked things on their own boats very carefully the next few days.

The early assessment was that a 5 gallon gasoline can had been strapped to the mast, on the deck, for his trip from the Bahamas a day earlier. The fire people thought it had developed a leak, and dripped into the bilge. The 90 degree heat caused the drips to evaporate into gasoline vapors, which, being heavier than air, settled into the bilge and filled the entire boat below the windows.

When the owner started the generator to make coffee in the morning, the fumes ignited. The owner was leaning overboard looking for water in the generator exhaust when he started the generator, and was blown overboard. Had he been anywhere else, he wouldn't have survived.

Also, had the wind and current been any different, the mooring line would have burned through, and Ms Fitz would have drifted into the many other boats downwind and downcurrent, likely igniting them as well.

[David_Old_Jersey]

I would have been Dead.

Early morning Ciggy and all...............

[bru]

Me too! (early morning ciggy I mean)

It's a scarey thought - wake up (sort of), grope around for baccy and ligher, roll the first one of the day, flick lighter and .....

I really am gonna have to give the damn things up!

[Amgine]

I wonder which is easier to give up?

[Greg S]

Quit the smokes a good number of years ago, but lighting up the coffee is the first thing for me. Ch--st, you would hope you would be able to smell the stuff, but one reads about people getting blown into orbit often enough to know better.

For awhile I thought about getting one of those small gasoline generators rather than going through the hassle of installing solar panels. (still on the to-do list) Kept thinking though about the additional amount of gas I would have to carry. Bad enough with the dinghy gas. Wish I had enough room to build a dedicated gasoline locker. Hummm, maybe one up on deck?

[dory36]

Someone who talked with the owner said he had detected an odor earlier, and had run his exhaust fans, but thought that had taken care of the problem early the previous afternoon. Actually, in all probability, he had acclimated to the odor, and the drips continued.

I suspect there were many factors that conspired to make this happen. The fuel container was strapped to the mast, rather than being strapped to a lifeline, so the leak allowed the fuel to travel down the mast and into the bilge rather than going harmlessly overboard. He was using a metal fuel can, apparently old enough to have developed rusty seams that began leaking.

[shellback]

It shows one good attribute us humans have, and that is compassion. No matter how much money one has, whether $3-4 billion or only $3-4 thousand, we're all human beings in the end. We should always watch out for each other. If it was you in that fire,you'd want others to help. Good for them that they made it out and good to see that even billionaires have heart!

Good on ya Mate!

Mark

[Alan Wheeler]

ONLY 3-4 thousand?? Wow! your rich. ;-) :-)