Lightning Storm

graham

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I foolishly decided to sail over to Portishead yesterday evening and got caught in the middle of the lightning storm.It went from a nice gentle breeze to howling gale and torrential rain in a matter of minutes.

Portishead Marina had 30 knots and the M5was brought to a stand still by the torrential rain.

Lightning frightens me a lot.Never been struck but had a few close calls.How dangerous is it in reality? With a metal mast stood on an empty sea it seems impossible not to get hit but fortunately thats not the case .

Sailed back today ,quite fresh probably gusting to about 28 to 30 knots southerly now and then.Boat flew along on a beam reach most of the way,quite a bit of Bristol Channel ended up in my cockpit lockers and down the neck of my oilies... /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif


Yesterday before the rain/lightning.Note hitech self steering and "marine toilet"
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Portishead this morning

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Coming back this morning Double reefed main and not much jib.Still in the lee of the land there.Got a bit wet for taking pictures not long after. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

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Sneds

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Hi Saw you from my sitting room window as you passed Clevedon!
Swmbo thinks you must be mad, /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif glad you made it ok.
 

graham

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[ QUOTE ]
Swmbo thinks you must be mad,

[/ QUOTE ]

Sounds like she has been talking to my SWMBO /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 

bluedragon

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"Note hitech self steering and "marine toilet"

Good to see we've got some proper yotties here /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif
 

bluedragon

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Not really been hit, but back in the days when Cardiff Bay was just The Docks, we had a severe summer lightning storm (but little if any rain). Strikes all around about every 30 secs. Two yachts off CYC had their masthead gear vaporised, and I was thrown back off a drop keel winch (connected by wire to the keel). To get the keel down I waited for the next flash then wound like mad for 15 secs and repeated the procedure! Good story now, but a bit worrying at the time!!
 

LizzyD

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I have been hit - honest.

It was a few years ago when I had a Leisure 20. It was during the month of August (not usually storm weather) and about 08:00 in the morning. We were heading to Ilfracoombe from Cardiff. Crew was me and two mates. One was in the cabin, the other in the companionway and me on the helm. I was sitting along the seat with my left leg up on the seat and my right leg on the floor near to the outboard whic sits in a well.

LegInPositionInBoat.jpg


I remember seeing a really black cloud in the distance and hearing a rumble of thunder. My mate in the companionway, Chris, and I looked at each other and we began to consider getting some water proofs on. Suddenly, I heard what I can only describe as a loud "pop" and I felt as though I'd been slapped on the back really hard. I couldn't hear anything and I was generally confused and dizzy. I don't know why, but I realised we'd been hit by lightening and I knew I'd been struck. I was convinced that I had electrical burns and if I'm being honest, I really panicked. I was screaming at my mates to get my shirt of as I was convnced it was on fire. chris pulled my shirt of to show me it was OK. I'd lost all sensation down my right hand side and stumbled into the cabin. Because my leg was so limp, I thought it might be broken and I remember thinking to myself that I should sit down as I'm probably in shock and the pain will kick in any second now. There was smoke everywhere and as I looked out back into the cockpit, I saw smoke out there too. I saw the engine cowling of the outboard was off and the side lockers had blown open.

As I calmed down, we needed to assess damage. every electrical component was destroyed. the radio was gone and the echo sounder display had just exploded, as had every light.

EchoSoounder.jpg


RearNav.jpg


In the galley resting on top of the stove was a full cider can (please feel free to joke about thi sin any replies - I'm sure I've told them all already), which had electrical burns to it and a split down its length where the inducted current had destroyed it. You can see from the picture that the ring pull was still intact.

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The switch panels had also blown and the radio had lost its uniform body shape and was displaying convex sides with the pressure from within.

SwitchPanels.jpg


Apart from flares, all I had was my works mobile phone which was on top of my sleeping bag in the v-berth and was untouched. It was one of the few times in my life that I have made a 999 call. I asked for the Coastguard and told them what had happened. They immediately offered a Lifeboat and a Doctor for me and amazingly, I refused. I think it's because that as a Firefighter, I help people who are in trouble. This sort of thing doesn't happen to me surely? It happens to others. I'm a rescuer - I don't get rescued! (Foolish attitude with hindsight.) We knew we had no engine so we put up the sails and headed to the Welsh coast near Aberthaw.

By now, my body had come out in massive purple blotches. These weren't faint, but vivid and dark in colour. I had pain in my right leg but the mobility sensations had returned to my right hand side.

The coastguard were absolutely fantastic. They promised to contact me every 30 minutes to check our progress on the mobile phone which they did. we put the kettle on, dropped the anchor, and waited for the flood to take us back to Cardiff. The trip was off and we needed to get home. when we had done this, the CG rang us and we told them of our plan. They commented on how much happier we seemed on the phone now and I realised at how scared I must have sounded.

When the flood came, we had a bit of luck and a westerly got up to a decent F2-ish. By late afternoon, we were outside the Barrage and I told the CG that we would try and get a tow in. They offered us Penarth Lifeboat if we had any trouble. I thanked them and rang the Barrage to ask for a tow. They seemed ages in coming, and I began to sweat as the Balmoral was heading directly towards us. I couldn't radio and didn't know whether he had seen us. I considered a collision flare, but at the last moment, she turned towards the end of Penarth pier.

There was no wind by now and the Harbour Authority RIB came out to us. They rafted alongside and we gave them a slab of beer for their trouble. I also rang Penarth Marina and told them what had happened and that we needed a berth, and they, like the CG, Barrage and HM, were kindness personified and arranged a double berth so we could go straight in.

So what happened? An electrical engineer friend of mine told me that it was probably a lightening strike near by and our boat was inducted. A sudden high voltage charge had shot down the mast, and rigging, including the backstay, against which I was partially leaning. The electricity entered me and exited my right hand leg which was next to the metal handle of the outboard, arcing across to head to earth. Picture shows my war wound.

LegCLoseUp.jpg


The scar is still impressive to this day.

I was told that my actions in refusing medical help was foolish as the electricity could have affected my heart rhythm and done deep burn damage to tissues in my body. I should have been checked out instead of racing to the local for many pints of medicinal cider. He finished with the worrying opinion that if we had taken a direct hit, the boat would probably have been destroyed, and the three of us killed.

The boat spent a week at Penarth Marina and had to have every electrical item replaced, including a total re-wire, new VHF ariel, nav lights, echo, VHF etc. My trip to Ilfracombe cost me a fortune in marina fees and replacement parts, but it could have cost me a lot more.

Another Forensic Scientist friend and colleague informed me that making your boat earthed by passing anchor chain arround the mast, makes it more attractive to lightening as it has a better path to earth, although I have read different in the PBO. Personally, I choose to stay out of the lightening and watch the weather forecasts real closely and even then, I like to use my own judgement as none was forcast on the day we were hit.

Now whenever I see lightening, I damn near s**t myself. I'm absolutely terrified of it.

Still, it's a heck of a story. Stay out of it.

Take care,


Lizzy D
 

Sneds

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Hell, what a nightmare! Great story though. But Scrumpy Jack?

I thought only tramps drank that /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 

graham

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Frightening. I have a similar set up for the outboard. Wont be standing close to it next time /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif.

Probably sitting down below away from anything electrical or metal would be the safest.

Great pictures,was the mast and rigging damaged at all?
Tragic about the Scrumpy Jack /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif.
 

LizzyD

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I haven't looked at the posts on here for a day or so and the stuff you've written is so funny, it made me laugh at loud. All everyone was concerned about was the Scrumpy Jack!

Someone asked if the mast or rigging was damaged. No it wasn't. But we did have pin holes right through the boat which needed repairing. The engine was damaged too, but the cost of repairing that was only about £60.00. By the time I'd spent cash on nav lights (£20 each) switch panels (£20 each) new radio, etc, etc - and paid the marina for a week's berthing there while we carried out the repairs, the total cost was in the region of £600.00.

By the way, the Scrumpy Jack can has pride of place on a shelf in my office at work. As someone poited out, Scrumpy Jack is usually only drunk by tramps, but the cap fits. so I wear it!

Take care all,

Lizzy D
 

damo

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Good to hear you got back OK - thanks for the pleasant company.

We took Snow Petrel out for the first time on Thursday, since my gear box and reefing rebuild. F6-7 and showers, 2 reefs of my new slab-reefing conversion (which worked great - so much better than the roller boom), one tack all the way to Cardiff. (Couldn't see any lightning strikes on Vega!)

Had a bite to eat and a drink on board in Penarth at the bottom of the tide, then flew back to Portishead on the opposite tack.

I went with Rich, who locked you in the other evening, and a guy who dropped in to the office looking for some crewing opportunities. A fine time was had by all.
 

graham

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Hello Damo Glad it all went well.Enjoyed the Ushers and your company. Cheers /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif
 

kds

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There is a lot of misinformation out there. I sailed a lot in Africa - some of it at 5000ft. near much higher mountains. Lightning stikes in the area were a daily occurrence. 11 people killed on our school estate in one year alone.
Lightning conductors on buildings work well - but they still occasionally get struck and blown up.
A metal or wet wooden mast is such a conductor, but it does not have the conducting ability of thick copper and your hull is at the bottom of it.
We all did different things if caught out. Some people even capsized dinghies and lay flat in the water - but people have been killed in water. It is the voltage drop over the length of you body that gets you.
It certainly loosens sphincters when your mast and rigging light up.
Yes - I have been worried about the two near us in the Bristol Channel over the last few years.
But, the roads are much more dangerous.
So enjoy your sailing !
/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gifKen
 
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