A lightning bolt has destroyed a yacht in Melbourne's bayside, causing a fire inside the boat and melting away much of its side.
The racing yacht, called Schuss, was out of the water at Sandringham Yacht Club around 7pm yesterday when thunderstorms swept across Melbourne.
A lightning strike hit the boat, frying the wiring and melting a hole in the hull.
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Schuss crew manager David Rutter told 3AW this morning: "It went through the mast, the electricity went through all the wiring, started a fire and has made a complete mess of the boat."
"It's caused quite a large section of the side of the boat to basically melt away inside," he told Tony Jones.
"Unfortunately, she's probably going to be an insurance write-off.
"That's the end of our sailing for a while."
Mr Rutter said that while the boat did bot look "too bad" from the outside, the inside was destroyed.
"The start of our season was next week at the Geelong Festival of Sails, unfortunately that's out of the question now."
