Newport Beach : Sailor Escapes Burning Vessel in Inflatable Raft

A 54-year-old sailor used an inflatable raft to escape a fire that erupted in the galley of his 34-foot sailboat Monday morning while he was about 12 miles off the coast of Newport Beach, authorities said.

Robert Harrington, who lived aboard the Captain J and normally docked in San Diego, told authorities the fire ignited after he turned on the stove to make coffee and went topside to adjust his sails.

“When he went back below he found the whole kitchen aflame,” said Orange County Sheriff’s Lt. Bob Benson. “You could see the smoke from the shore. It was quite a show.”

Harrington lowered an inflatable 8-foot boat into the water and radioed for help at about 8:10 a.m. The U.S. Coast Guard sent a helicopter, the cutter Divide and an auxiliary boat to his aid. The Sheriff’s Department Harbor Patrol also sent a boat to the scene.

Coast Guard Petty Officer Thomas Honke said Harrington was picked up by a passing boat 3 minutes before the helicopter and rescue boats arrived at about 8:20 a.m. He was taken aboard one of the Coast Guard boats and brought to the sheriff’s Harbor Patrol headquarters in Newport Beach.

A Coast Guard auxiliary boat extinguished the fire and tried to tow Harrington’s sailboat to shore, but it sank several miles off the coast.

“All that was left was a burned-out hull,” Honke said.