The last few days has seen some action here with a yacht catching fire and almost completely burning out. We were sitting behind the boat chatting to our neighbours when Lola, looking across the water seen a fire. The fire wasn’t very large a little bit larger than your average camp fire so we dismissed the conversation and continued making small talk. Then we heard the sound of a power boat roaring across the water at extreme speed and Lola commented that it’s a no wake zone and the idiot must slow down. And back to chitchat. Suddenly two or three cars came screaming across the grounds and we all commented that they should slow down and stop driving like fools in the boatyard. We were still discussing the idiots driving so dangerously when a fire truck came tearing threw the boat yard. Only then did it dawn on us what all the commotion was about when we stepped to the front of our boats and seen a massive roaring fire with a huge black cloud billowing across the sky. A yacht had caught fire and was rapidly being devoured by searing hot flames. The first small fire that Lola noticed was the tender that had melted loose and had drifted down steam past our view. The roaring power boat was trying to extinguish the fire on the tender.
The fire brigade eventually managed to kill the blaze but it was too late for the yacht to be saved. Being a catamaran she didn’t sink and was quite a site to behold all melted, distorted and soot covered with the mast leaning over precariously. The fire had been so hot that the boom melted away to nothing. The entire back of the boat and most of the bridge deck including the saloon and cockpit was completely gone, melted away. The front deck had collapsed and was distorted beyond use. The only parts that were recognisable were the two bows with the cross beam and trampolines still intact.
The night before last we invited some friends over for cocktails on the foredeck. The evening didn’t go quite as planned when Lola told our neighbour, Barry to get off our boat and he is never allowed back unless he apologises to her. I explained this incident simply but in reality it was slightly different. Lola asked Barry not to fiddle with the ropes that we tied up as temporary forestays to keep the mast up. He ignored her and tried to be funny by yanking the ropes even harder. Lola didn’t mince her words as she flew off the handle and explained that he was no longer welcome aboard. All I can say is there were lots of describing words used.
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| Burntout yacht - cockpit and saloon area |
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| All that left of multi million rand sailing yacht |
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