A catastrophic fire broke out aboard the custom 75ft Reichel/Pugh designed Grand Prix race boat Titan XV at around 1930 local time whilst she was tied up in Antigua Yacht Club Marina in Falmouth Harbour. A seven year old child on a nearby catamaran reportedly saw the smoke and heard a ‘popping’ sound coming from onboard, and once alerted, local superyacht crews on adjacent boats tried their hardest to extinguish the electrical fire. Having been aboard for over two hours, fire-fighters have now extinguished the blaze, and one of the fire crew told Yachting World that the fire was believed to be started by a short in the battery bank, which then caught onto the hydraulic reservoir. Titan is still floating, but tragically the internal damage is thought to be large enough to be terminal.

Tom and Dotty Hill’s Titan is here in Antigua to take part in Antigua Sailing Week and is being chartered during the week by Peter Cunningham under the re-branded name Titan Powerplay. She was currently leading her Class 1.

In the dark picture you may just be able to make out the generators and fire hoses from surrounding yachts and the fire crew in reflective jackets aboard Titan