SW-INC-0065SeaWise Incidents

Pinocchio - Anchor dragged into 11,000-volt cables, Strangford Lough

At anchor in the Comber River, the 7.9 m yacht Pinocchio dragged until her masthead touched overhead 11,000-volt power cables; the owner was shocked and burned, and the boat was destroyed by fire.

verified · 1 sourceO
Vessel
Pinocchio26 ft · Sailing yacht
When
2004North Atlantic
Crew
1 aboardAll survived
Outcome
Lost
Position
Comber River, near Strangford Lough, Northern Ireland (UK)
Sea area
Strangford Lough
Coordinates
54.54°N, -5.70°WApproximate position
Summary

What happened.

While anchored in the Comber River near Strangford Lough, Northern Ireland, the 7.9 m yacht Pinocchio dragged her anchor until her masthead touched overhead 11,000-volt power cables on 3 June 2004. The owner received an electric shock with burns to his right hand and arm, and the yacht caught fire and was completely destroyed.

On the afternoon of 3 June 2004, the 7.9-metre sailing yacht Pinocchio was lying at anchor in the Comber River, near Strangford Lough in Northern Ireland, when she dragged her anchor. As the boat moved, her masthead came into contact with overhead 11,000-volt power cables crossing the water. The owner received an electric shock and suffered burns to his right hand and arm, and the yacht caught fire and was completely destroyed — a constructive total loss. The Marine Accident Investigation Branch's Chief Inspector wrote to the Northern Ireland Electricity Powerteam supporting the actions from their internal inquiry, including promulgating the lessons learned across the electricity supply industry.

ConditionsAnchored in the Comber River; mid-afternoon (1428). Masthead contacted overhead 11kV power lines after the anchor dragged.
SeaWise noteAn overhead cable is a hazard you can strike without ever touching ground, because the tallest thing on your boat is the masthead reaching up toward it. Pinocchio shows how two ordinary things — a charted power line and a dragging anchor — combine into something extraordinary: a shock, a fire, and a boat gone in minutes. When you anchor near cables, the clearance on the chart is part of your scope calculation.
Lessons learned

What it teaches.

  • 1
    Overhead cables are a hazard your masthead can reach even in open water. Pinocchio dragged until her mast touched 11,000-volt lines, shocking the owner and burning the boat to a total loss. Where charts show overhead power cables, treat their clearance height as a real limit and factor it into where — and how much scope — you anchor.
    prep to sail fire
  • 2
    An anchor watch is a safety system, not a convenience. This entire event began with a dragging anchor; an anchor alarm or a kept watch that caught the drag early would have stopped the boat well before her mast reached the cables.
    on watch prep to sail
  • 3
    Electrical contact means fire, fast. The shock burned the owner and the yacht was destroyed by the fire that followed. Know how to break contact without becoming a second casualty, get people clear, and treat an electrical fire aboard as an immediate abandon-and-call situation, not one to fight to the last.
    fire abandon ship
Sources

Where this comes from.

Official report· MAIB (UK)Dragging anchor and contact with overhead cable by sailing yacht Pinocchio resulting in fire and 1 person injuredVisit ↗

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From SeaWise

Procedures involved.

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Record IDSW-INC-0065
Curated bySeaWise editorial
Confidenceverified · 1 source
Record typeIncident

About SeaWise records: We catalogue sailing emergencies with structured metadata and link to primary sources rather than republishing them. Individual crew names are anonymised by default— sources we link to may name them publicly; SeaWise refers to roles ("the skipper", "the crew") on our pages. Submitter identities are always private.