Napier yacht towed by Coastguard after crew extinguish fire

Coastguard Hawke's Bay skipper Henry van Tuel said no one appeared to be injured by the fire and damage appeared to be contained mainly to the engine room. Photo / Supplied

The crew of a yacht had their Sunday off the coast of Whirinaki cut short abruptly when a fire erupted on board.

Coastguard Hawke's Bay skipper Henry van Tuel said the Coastguard were training on Sunday morning when they heard several reports through VHF chatter of a yacht on fire near Whirinaki.

"We went up there and there had been a yacht on fire, there had been a suspected electrical fault but they had managed to put the fire out."

He said the crew had used three extinguishers on board to put the fire out just before Coastguard arrived, so they helped tow the boat back to Napier.

"It was about 45 feet long and 35 tonnes, so it was a big tow for us."

Coastguard Hawke's Bay skipper Henry van Tuel said no one appeared to be injured by the fire and damage appeared to be contained mainly to the engine room. Photo / Supplied

He said none of the crew had been injured in the fire.

"There was a bit of smoke inhalation, but they were fine."

He said they left the training about 9.15am and located the yacht at 9.45am.

He said he understood the fire took out the yacht's power supplies, but the damage was contained to mainly the engine room.

"When you look at the boat it looks fine, it was clearly confined to inside the boat."

He said a fire offshore can be a dangerous and scary situation, but this one luckily was dealt with.

"It's not fun, there is no fire brigade obviously out there, but they managed it."