CRYSTAL COVE : Woman Leaps Into Sea in Boat Fire

An Irvine woman leaped into the sea to save herself Sunday when a galley stove exploded into flames and destroyed the 26-foot powerboat she was skippering alone off Crystal Cove, the Sheriff’s Department reported.

Lt. Jay Mendez said a solo pleasure cruise for Michaelene B. Yurek, 37, ended in disaster about 12:20 p.m. after she tried to make a pot of tea on an alcohol stove that apparently malfunctioned and caught fire.

“She had just lit the stove to heat some water,” said Jerry Yurek, Michaelene’s husband. “Within seconds there was a whoosh of flame that blew her out of the cockpit and over the stern into the ocean.”

As the fire spread, Yurek said, his wife climbed back onto the stern, peeked over the railing and saw huge clouds of black smoke pouring from the cabin. Nevertheless, she managed to send a distress signal on a ship-to-shore radio and grab a flotation cushion from the cockpit before being forced back into the ocean by the heat and smoke.

She was two miles off Crystal Cove, just south of Corona del Mar.

A few minutes later, the mother of five was plucked from the sea by the crew of another powerboat. But by the time two Harbor Patrol fireboats arrived, the Monterey, worth about $25,000, was a total loss.

“She was more than lucky,” Yurek said. “I couldn’t believe it. The boat was burned to the waterline. There is nothing left. I was amazed she went back on to call for help.”

The Harbor Patrol towed the blackened hulk of the 26-foot Carver cabin cruiser back to Newport Harbor on Sunday afternoon while a state Department of Fish and Game vessel ferried Michaelene Yurek back home. She was treated for a bruised leg at Hoag Hospital and released.

Yurek said his wife, who was too shaken to talk, has been skippering powerboats for 20 years. She decided to take their boat out alone Sunday because he wanted to watch the Los Angeles Rams football game and a family friend could not make the trip.

After starting the stove, Yurek said, his wife walked out into the cockpit to light a cigarette. “Had she stayed in the cabin she would have been dead,” he said.