Check your fire extinguishers!

Hifive

Out for a spin with a buddy yesterday and on the way back, (from the pub ) found this yacht (looked like a Westerly Konsort or similar) sideways and obviously in distress. Three souls on board and smoke billowing from the cabin.
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The lads had just picked it up from New Ross boat yard and, god love them, were on their maiden voyage up river to Waterford marina.
Not sure what happened but they had a fairly serious fire in the engine space and no fire extinguishers on board. The fire had just started a couple of minutes before we arrived.
We came alongside fairly sharply and I gave them one of our extinguishers which apparently failed miserably, producing a thin stream for about five seconds, obviously faulty.

Yer man appears up the companionway in a plume of smoke and asks, "You wouldn’t have another one please, would you?"

Another extinguisher was duly produced and handed over, but at this stage I felt the lads would be safer to step off.
The skipper must have had ideas of going down with the ship and against my better judgement, disappeared down the companionway into the smoke, with extinguisher number two, and this time thankfully managed to put the fire out.
I was really concerned that he would be overcome by fumes which smelled really strongly of rubber/plastic and no doubt were very toxic.

Anyway, no one was hurt and we towed the yacht up to our marina for the night. Unfortunately for the lads, they couldn't spend their first night on board, due to the smoke fumes, so they stayed in a local hotel instead.

They were, by the way, EXTREMELY grateful and sent a very complimentary thank you text later that night.

Mark.