Warning issued over outboard engines after racing yacht catches fire

A new report by Ireland’s Marine Casualty Investigation Board (MCIB) has found that the ‘sub-optimal capacity’ of the outboard engine aboard a yacht that caught fire and sank was a contributory factor in its loss (see the video below).

The board has recommended that the Irish Minister for Transport should amend or update the code of practice for the Safe Operation of Recreational Craft, to advise owners to ensure that ‘auxiliary engines fitted to racing yachts provide the necessary power to allow safe inshore or coastal passage,’ particularly when ‘adverse weather or sea conditions prevail.’

The MCIB report examines the cause of a fire that sank the yacht Black Magic off Cork Harbour, in December 2021. The report finds that the ‘continuous operation’ of the auxiliary engine at its maximum design capacity was the likely cause behind the fire, which broke out in Ringabella Bay.

In its safety recommendations, the MCIB also says the Minister for Transport should publish a marine notice highlighting the risks associated with refuelling operations or decanting volatile flammable liquids at sea or alongside, to or from open containers in the vicinity of hot and exposed surfaces.

Black Magic, which was a FC8 racing yacht constructed in France in 1996, was sailing with one person aboard from Crosshaven to Kinsale Harbour on 13 December 2021 when the outboard engine mounted on the transom caught fire. The fire rapidly spread throughout the vessel.

A search and rescue operation was launched after the skipper transmitted a Mayday broadcast using a handheld VHF radio. The skipper was eventually rescued by a nearby fishing vessel, which took him to safety. While the skipper was not injured, the vessel was ‘consumed’ by fire and eventually sank at 12.48pm in Ringabella Bay, around an hour after the fire had started.

In its report, the MCIB concludes that the outboard engine suffered a significant mechanical failure after being operated continuously at maximum capacity, causing hot engine components to become exposed to fuel and oil lubricants, which spontaneously ignited and caused a fire.

‘The lack of wind and the sub-optimal capacity of the yacht’s outboard engine to power the yacht at the required speed as it motor sailed out of Cork Harbour was a contributory factor in the [yacht’s] loss,’ the report adds.

‘Refuelling the outboard engine by topping up the engine’s fuel tank likely resulted in a fuel spillage in the vicinity of the engine and transom,’ says MCIB. ‘The spilled fuel was likely to have been a contributory factor in the subsequent fire which started at the outboard engine and resulted in the loss of the yacht.’

The unnamed skipper commented to the MCIB that the outboard, identified as a Parsun 3 horsepower, single-cylinder 4-stroke, mounted on a transom bracket, was sufficient to push Black Magic in the flat calm waters on the day.

The skipper adds that the engine was not serviced at the time of the sale and had not been serviced in the interim before the incident.