sailaboutvic
Well-known member
Tho some might like to read this for some very good US cruisers friends .
(Written yesterday):
"Well, we have had a tough day on Grateful. This afternoon we took a direct strike of lightning to our mast while sailing in 200+ feet of water off of Corsica.
It wasn't even raining. The weather was unsettled, and we were purposefully moving from Bonifacio to a safer anchorage eastward.
What does this mean? We are without our navigation systems. The freezer works, but not the fridge. Oddly, Jamie's Sonicare got fried, and the new battery on my Quip brush seems to have been fried by the blast of electrical whammy, as well. [Note: it's working today.]
We both have tiny spark wounds that we didn't notice for a couple of hours after the strike. I had been sitting alongside the navigation station where our electrical panel resides. I experienced BLAM! and sparks flying out of the switches.
Jamie was at the helm, got this weird sensation that said DUCK! and saw the strike, which blossomed in the daylight lole a huge firework. He ducked again and covered his head as pieces of our masthead rained down. He has a all burn on his neck from molten metal.
We are preparing our first insurance claim in decades of owning boats. We are both a rather shaken.
And yet! Our Lithuanian neighbors in the mooring field insisted on having us over for "comforting." Their 14-year-old son (who reminds me of Hunter at the same age) had returned the favor of helping us with slime lines as we returned to safety in a more crowded mooring field than we had left around 2 pm (Jamie helped them tie up yesterday).
This is a major injury to Grateful. Our electronics are fried. When we turned on the lights in the saloon tonight, there was smoke and red potential fire. We have no chart plotter, no autopilot, not even a mast light.
Tomorrow when we talk with our insurance company, we will find out if we must stay here for estimates and repairs, or if we can cobble something together so that we may continue to Barcelona, as planned, to meet up with our crossing crew (crossing may no longer be an option this season)."
[Update, we are looking at Ajaccio, up the west coast of Corsica, which has more comprehensive yacht repair services.]
(Written yesterday):
"Well, we have had a tough day on Grateful. This afternoon we took a direct strike of lightning to our mast while sailing in 200+ feet of water off of Corsica.
It wasn't even raining. The weather was unsettled, and we were purposefully moving from Bonifacio to a safer anchorage eastward.
What does this mean? We are without our navigation systems. The freezer works, but not the fridge. Oddly, Jamie's Sonicare got fried, and the new battery on my Quip brush seems to have been fried by the blast of electrical whammy, as well. [Note: it's working today.]
We both have tiny spark wounds that we didn't notice for a couple of hours after the strike. I had been sitting alongside the navigation station where our electrical panel resides. I experienced BLAM! and sparks flying out of the switches.
Jamie was at the helm, got this weird sensation that said DUCK! and saw the strike, which blossomed in the daylight lole a huge firework. He ducked again and covered his head as pieces of our masthead rained down. He has a all burn on his neck from molten metal.
We are preparing our first insurance claim in decades of owning boats. We are both a rather shaken.
And yet! Our Lithuanian neighbors in the mooring field insisted on having us over for "comforting." Their 14-year-old son (who reminds me of Hunter at the same age) had returned the favor of helping us with slime lines as we returned to safety in a more crowded mooring field than we had left around 2 pm (Jamie helped them tie up yesterday).
This is a major injury to Grateful. Our electronics are fried. When we turned on the lights in the saloon tonight, there was smoke and red potential fire. We have no chart plotter, no autopilot, not even a mast light.
Tomorrow when we talk with our insurance company, we will find out if we must stay here for estimates and repairs, or if we can cobble something together so that we may continue to Barcelona, as planned, to meet up with our crossing crew (crossing may no longer be an option this season)."
[Update, we are looking at Ajaccio, up the west coast of Corsica, which has more comprehensive yacht repair services.]