GoPro-Equipped Drone Captures $24 Million Yacht Going Up in Flames

Kurt Roll, a boat captain in San Diego, told Mashable that he captured images of a magnificent yacht on fire in a nearby marina, using a DJI Phantom quadcopter with a GoPro camera attached.

You can see the camera rolling before takeoff...

Image source: YouTube

...and as it approaches the inferno:

Image source: YouTube

As it draws closer, it grabs a unique perspective on the fire that hit the 112-foot yacht Thursday morning.

Image source: YouTube

About 100 workers on site at the time were evacuated, reported KGTV-TV in San Diego.

"The fire started up near the bow, one of the hoses blew out, so that caught on fire, and I saw fire coming out of one of the holes," marina worker Chris Gonzalez said.

Workers told KGTV it may have been a welding accident, but that was not confirmed.

“Am I angry? No. Anger is not the right word,” said yacht owner Larry Jodsass in a phone interview with KNSD-TV. “It was my toy, my wonderful, beautiful piece of equipment. I think it’s the most beautiful boat that ever has been built.”

More from KNSD:

Jodsass, 79, is a retired electrical engineer, entrepreneur and former chairman of a successful semiconductor company who now lives in Minnesota.

He said the news of his yacht catching fire at a dry dock was nothing short of devastating.

Jodsass said the yacht he named “Polar Bear” is worth $24 million, took him five years to build and has been in the water for three years. Jodsass said the yacht was dry docked in Chula Vista after a winter journey to Costa Rica.

“The beautiful part with this piece of equipment was that no matter who looked at it, it was like, ‘Wow, how in the hell could you have a boat like that?’” Jodass told KNSD. “Do I love that boat? It’s a helluva boat, I just think it was wonderful, I enjoyed it tremendously and I think it was worth the money that I put into it."

(H/T: Business Insider)