What a loss.

Here's the details from Kellan who was my kite board coach who was living aboard the ill fated sailboat. He was aboard Catatonic after my lesson the day before. I finally found a coach that got me flying on the board, what a feeling. We schedule follow up lesson for the next morning at 9am. He was living aboard a Gulfstar 37 he had bought in Florida, repaired, and sailed to the Virgin Islands to start Fusion BVI. He is a sponsored/professonal kiteboarder and good kid.

He was at Saba rock where they hang in the evening doing kiteboarding demos (where I met him the evening before during our Dinghy Poker Run), when he noticed the smoke coming from his boat. He grabbed his tender and some friends, but by the time they got to his boat, it was too hot. The fire burned his anchor line and the boat started drifting through the mooring field. Kellan and his friends were going aboard other boats to help them wake up and move anyone in the mooring field downwind. The boat eventually cleared the mooring field and sunk after the propane tank accelerated the process.

My kite was aboard his boat for repair, so needless to say, we didn't do our lesson that morning. Kilbride's was kind enough to loan us SCUBA gear and Kellan and I went to his boat to see what we could salvage. Other than some tools, rigging from the mast, and the ships wheel, it was nothing but ash above the water line with the exception of 6 boxes of Kraft Macaroni and Cheese which somehow survived. . A lionfish had already taken up residence under the keel!

Kellan has a condo at Leverick Bay and has been in touch with Husky Salvage to see what he needs to do next. It is too deep to be a navigational hazard, but should be marked with some kind of buoy so no one fouls their anchor on the wreck. Hopefully he'll keep going with his lessons (he is the best kite board instructor I've had yet) and will get back on his feet.

He is grateful that no one was injured or other boats were damaged in the process and suspects it was an electrical issue he had been working on with the fresh water pump that may have started the fire.