Shake Up On the Shakedown:
Fire at Sea

It is exciting to acquire the boat of your dreams, rig it with quality equipment, and embellish it with personal touches.

With that phase complete and a weekend of cruising planned, it was time to put my new craft to sea to test new systems and practice my navigational skills.

A close friend who is an Olympic yachting sailor and captain agreed to assist me as we got underway.

With winds at 20 to 25 knots and swells at 3 to 4 feet, the bay was dotted with sailboats of all sizes taking advantage of the ideal conditions. Our departure into the channel was a busy one because of frequent courtesy slowing and yielding to sail craft.

When I first detected the unmistakable odor of smoke, we had cruised barely a mile in the channel. My friend opined that perhaps the odor came from a passing vessel, but years of safety drills and sea experience compelled me to determine its source.

I checked in the salon below. Convinced there was no fire below, I climbed back up the ladder to the bridge. As my eyes reached the bridge deck level, I saw smoke pouring from under and around the helm dash.

The reality of our peril and everything I had ever learned about fires at sea caused a number of factors and variables to flash through my mind.

There were innumerable sailboats all around us, and while the stiff wind was great for their sails, it was terrible for an incipient fire.

Our boat had to stay away from other vessels and head into the wind. Since returning to port with a fire aboard was not an option, we had to remain in navigable water.

The bridge had to be quickly closed to keep out wind. Although our engines were thus far unaffected, we had no electrical power. We had to do a number of important tasks simultaneously, but the most important among them was to think clearly and not panic.

The first order of business when dealing with a shipboard fire is to extinguish it. That meant removing thirty-eight bolts from the instrument panel in a smoke-filled bridge compartment.

Working with focused, deliberate speed, we were able to remove the bolts and began snipping smoldering wires. All the while, we had to steer from that choking bridge to maneuver us away from other vessels to a safe anchoring spot.

Although we had a fire extinguisher immediately available for use, we were able to snuff out the involved wires manually.

Once we were certain that the fire was out and the boat was controllable with no threat to other vessels, we limped back to port.

On inspecting my boat, shipyard repair personnel stated they were amazed at what they discovered. Burned wires were found forward, aft, port and starboard of the boat.

The repairmen's comment that our quick actions prevented my boat from burning to the waterline was gratifying to hear. It was even more gratifying because I have always insisted that my passengers and crew participate in shipboard emergency planning and practice mock drills. I have seen many times that knowing what to do and practicing it leads to quick action and avoids panic.

My boat is a floating testament to that truth.

The author of this article is a customer of Foremost Insurance Company, the provider of this site.