Kathy Ireland's Husband Escapes Exploding Boat by Kayak After Engine Fire Off Santa Barbara
(Illustration: USA Current Affaires)
Kathy Ireland has thanked the strangers and rescuers who saved her husband's life — after his fishing boat exploded beneath him off the California coast, leaving him alone in the Pacific with nothing but a kayak between him and the open sea.
Greg Olsen, the husband of the former supermodel, was sailing alone aboard his beloved fishing boat, the 4th Watch, on Tuesday afternoon when the vessel's engine exploded and burst into flames roughly three miles offshore from El Capitan State Beach in Santa Barbara County. He escaped with no injuries — but the boat he had poured years of love into was destroyed.
Ireland, 63, shared the terrifying story in an Instagram Reel on Friday, posting footage of the 4th Watch engulfed in flames, thick black smoke billowing across the water. "Engine exploded and a fire quickly melted all navigation equipment and survival raft!" she wrote — and then, in a note to her husband, she put into words what the footage could not: "My heart is both heavy and full."
Alone on the Water When the Engine Blew
According to the US Coast Guard, trouble struck at around 3:30 p.m. on Tuesday, when Olsen's boat became disabled and he called for a commercial tow. Then the situation turned from inconvenient to life-threatening in seconds: the engine caught fire, and the flames spread so fast that the navigation equipment and the survival raft were melted before they could be used.
Olsen was on his own. Ireland was away on business, spending time with their grandchildren, and there was no one else aboard the 4th Watch. A retired physician who now runs a commercial fishing operation, he kept his head: he abandoned the burning vessel, scrambled into a kayak and got clear of the flames as the boat burned behind him.
Emergency crews from several agencies raced to the scene off the Gaviota Coast, with the Santa Barbara County Fire Department and the Sheriff's Office among those responding. But it was a good Samaritan in a kayak who reached Olsen first, pulling him from the water and getting him to safety. He was later transferred to a Santa Barbara City Harbor Patrol boat. The cause of the fire remains under investigation.
A Kayak, a Stranger and a Second Chance
The California Post first reported the details of the rescue on Friday, and Ireland's own post filled in the emotional side of the story. She thanked everyone "who prayed and continue to pray" for her husband, as well as TowBoatUS Ventura and "the entire community" for their quick response — and she paid tribute to the boat itself, writing of the love, sweat and life Olsen had poured into the vessel.
"This vessel brought so much joy and so many blessings to our family and countless others," she wrote. The 4th Watch was more than a fishing boat: Ireland has often called it her ship, and herself her husband's first mate. Losing it, she made clear, hurts — but it is nothing next to losing him.
The couple, who married in 1988 and have three children together, celebrated their 38th wedding anniversary earlier this year. Ireland, who appeared in 13 consecutive Sports Illustrated swimsuit issues and has been called the world's richest supermodel, built a business empire after modelling — but on Friday, her message was not about business at all. It was about gratitude.
A Boat Full of Memories
For Olsen, the rescue was a reminder of how quickly the sea can turn. He had done everything right — he tried to extinguish the fire, activated his emergency beacon and abandoned ship in an orderly way — and the quick thinking of a stranger in a kayak did the rest. He walked away without a single injury from a boat that was, within minutes, a total loss.
The 4th Watch is gone, but the story Ireland shared on Friday is really about what survived: a husband, a family, and a community that showed up when it mattered. "Life is hard and beautiful," she wrote — and after a week like this one, few would argue with her.
It has been a week of family stories in Hollywood: Top Chef star Leah Cohen lost her husband Ben Byruch suddenly at 44, and Jane Fonda was left out of Ted Turner's will as his five children inherit the fortune.
Have you ever had a close call on the water? Let us know in the comments.
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