NORDHAVN 46
Laurie’s start to the season goes up in smoke when his neighbour’s boat sets alight
Between two fires
The cruising life provides mostly great
days and some not so great. This
particular day was among our worst.
We arrived at Lefkas Marina from
Athens on a gorgeous April afternoon,
keen to set forth on new adventures.
After checking into the hotel, we
wandered over to check out our
Norhavn 46, Envoy, on the hardstand,
but as we approached, we noticed
her location was surrounded by
red crime scene-style tape. Thenwe smelled a bitter aroma in the air
and saw marina staff watching over
the burnt-out remains of a large
motor boat about 4m from Envoy.
The scene meant we didn’t initially
notice any damage to Envoy. But then
we saw her starboard side’s hull had
some heat blistering. Her rigging and
white topsides were badly stained
by smoke and soot and there were
several broken portholes and windows.
While we were still slightly dazed,
the marina staff
explained that
the British-built
boat next to us
had only been
taken out of
the water andpositioned next to Envoy that
morning. The fire started with nobody
aboard and was apparently caused
by an electrical appliance. Although
marina staff and the fire brigade were
on the scene quickly, the boat was
badly damaged.
We stuck around for a meeting with
the marina manager, who explained
the boat which caused it was fully
insured and the marina would do
everything possible to help us. He
added that they hadn’t phoned us
about the fire as they knew we’d soon
be arriving. By now it was 7.30pm so it
was off to the marina bar for a drink!
That evening, we contacted our
insurers who said their surveyor,
Nikolas, would pay us a visit in twoEnvoy during repairs
to her riggingdays. We pondered how long Envoy’s
repairs would take and how our
cruising plans would be affected.
Two days later, Nikolas impressed
us with his professional attitude
as we inspected Envoy and found
some additional damage to a
navigation light, VHF antenna, radar
housing, rigging and teak coamings.
He examined the hull and advised
that while the blisters were mostly
in the paint, some areas of gelcoat
would need to be stripped off and
reapplied. Fortunately, there was
no damage whatsoever inside.
Nikolas’s first priority was to
get Envoy’s exterior professionally
cleaned of soot and fire debris to
better assess the overall damage.
Nikolas found a contractor, Yacht
Paint, who gave us a quote and were
able to do the clean-up within a few
days. Our insurers approved the quote
and Yacht Paint did an excellent job.
Meanwhile, we had to find
somewhere to live as we couldn’t
stay aboard Envoy amidst the dust,
fumes and noise of GRP repairs.
The arrival of May signalled the
start of the summer season so
accommodation was scarce, but
we managed to find an apartment.
After the clean-up, it seemed to
take ages for any work to start while
we waited for quotes for repairs,
equipment replacement and feedback
from our insurers. Work finally started
a month after the event with an
estimated four-week completion time.
We didn’t believe the work could be
completed so quickly but thankfully,
the estimate proved accurate.
Envoy finally cruised out of the
marina in early July, two months later
than planned. We are now cruising
the Ionian Sea. Laurie CranfieldEnvoy shrouded
for paintingThe boat on which
the fi re started92