Cruising Evening - Fire Safety On Board Your Boat

Published 10:36 on 12 Feb 2013

The annual Cruising Evening is a valuable forum for members wanting to know more about Äòhow to cruiseÄô, as some thirty members found last Saturday. Star of the evening was Chris Rogers from 'Marquesa', with his entertaining account of sailing round Britain last summer; Jeremy Parkinson took us on a tour of the Baltic, recommending the virtues of Fray Bentos steak and kidney pie and Mark and Rima showed us the delights of swimming with turtles in Turkey (sounds like the beginning of a limerick!)To close, recently-retired senior Fire Officer Adrian Crook gave an enlightening talk on dealing with, and preferably preventing, fire on board. Top recommendations from Adrian: over 50% of fires are started by electrics, so, given the low voltage of yacht systems, a bucket of water may well be the handiest way of extinguishing a fire; dry powder extinguishers will ruin the inside of your boat; holding a fire blanket so that it protects your hands will make a lot of difference, as flames will try to escape outwards under the blanket; LED bulbs do not give out anything like the heat of conventional bulbs. Adrian is happy to talk through fire safety on your boat with you, and will be arranging demonstrations in the yard (once itÄôs less full of fibreglass!)AdrianÄôs last example (see photo) was of a yard fire Äì someone had just wiped down their hull with thinners, and had left the top off the container; someone else happened to start up an angle grinder and suddenly boats were ablaze, and someoneÄôs insurance company wasnÄôt impressed. As we all start work on our boats for the season, we need to be aware of safe practice in the yard Äì see the keelboat storage section in the handbook. Steve FraserCruiser Class Captain

Last updated 15:13 on 28 July 2025