Many questions have been asked as to the cause of the fire that destroyed our hybrid/electric
catamaran 'Sea Minx' on 20 Dec 2011 in Richards Bay
South Africa.
Following the launch of the yard's demonstrator 'GreenEmotion', she was the first
commercial sailing
catamaran with retractable
electric motors and first to be built from basalt fibre composite. 'Sea Minx' was launched 18 Jan 2011 and was thus less than a year old at the time of the incident.
She caught fire on Dec 20th 2011 while in the marina of the Zululand Yacht Club in Richards Bay,
South Africa. At the time, the crew was on shore.
The vessel was completely destroyed despite valiant attempts by other yachties and the club management to save her. We
lost everything and were left standing in shorts and tee shirt.
Most importantly however was the fact that nobody was killed or injured and no damage to other yachts occurred due to the location of our yacht at the end of a 'hammerhead' pontoon away from other yachts in the marina.
The club and members were fantastic in their help and support.
Insurers 'Topsail' and their underwriters 'Royal Sun Alliance' carried out an immediate technical forensic investigation. The investigation has concluded that the cause of the fire was a faulty 'trickle'
charger that was left on to recharge the genny
battery that was flat.
The insurers have since settled our claim.
We are slowly coming to terms with this horrendous turn of
events.