Coniston blaze drama on boat sinks bid for record
Last updated at 16:01, Thursday, 15 November 2012
A BOAT went up in flames after attempting a world record on Coniston Water.
The vessel had been taken back to shore after being damaged during a run, when a spark ignited a split fuel line.
Flames engulfed the boat which burned for a couple of minutes before firefighters were able to put it out.
An on-site team tackled the blaze with fire extinguishers before a crew from Coniston turned up to assist them.
The record attempt was made as part of the five-day Records Week event, which saw 12 records broken in the first morning – in spite of the delays caused by the incident.
District councillor Ben Berry was present at the event and described a man standing on the boat being blown into the water by the explosion as it ignited.
He said: “The guy was on the back of the boat, desperately trying to disconnect everything.”
He later uploaded a video of the blaze to the internet, which can be seen on the Evening Mail website.
Nobody was hurt in the incident and the event resumed as planned once the lake had been cleaned of fuel and debris.
Another eyewitness described hearing a “whoosh” as the boat went up in flames and described seeing thick smoke coming from it.
He added: “It was pretty spectacular. Fortunately nobody was hurt.”
He described the events leading up to the fire, saying: “The guy in the boat crashed it doing a run and the motor was hanging off the back.”
A spokesman for Records Week said firefighters had responded well to the incident and that no major disruption had been caused to the event.
In spite of the distractions, the opening morning of Records Week was productive and saw 12 records broken.
Four people set world records, including 12-year-old Ben Jelf, from Kent.
Ben comfortably broke the world speed record in the GT-15 class, for under-16s, by reaching 44.33mph.
He said: “We are all really proud of ourselves as a team.”
He added he plans to continue trying to break his own record during the rest of the events and has his sights set on reaching 45mph.
Meanwhile, Ian Wright clocked 126.74mph in the S2000 class, breaking the world record he set last year.
First published at 15:02, Monday, 05 November 2012
Published by http://www.nwemail.co.uk
I guess they never broke the record then
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OMG John you ARE fast,you could have rowed the record,lol.
Posted by captain bluebirdseye on 7 November 2012 at 13:27