Sailing in thunder & lightening...

[vyv_cox]

First hand experience then! How was the boat afterwards?

I knew some people whose mast was struck in a berth off the Intracoastal Waterway. Every single electric wire in the boat was burnt out, all electronics destroyed. I have read of others who swore they saw their boat struck but damage was negligible. My aunt was struck twice by lightning during her walking expeditions. The worst she suffered was that she was knocked unconscious and all the skin was stripped off her forefinger! Yet an unfortunate runner at Porthcawl was driven several feet beneath the surface of the sand when he was struck on the beach.

Lightning has to be the most unpredictable of natural phenomena.

 

[Salty John]

I was struck in North Carolina while at anchor and sourrounded by boats with taller masts.

Kismet!

Snap! We were also struck in North Carolina, at mile 84 on the ICW.

 

[BlueChip]

We have sailed in some bad thunderstorms over the years (bad that is by UK standards) and it has to rate right up there in the rather not stakes. That said our worst one was when going south across the Channel when a line of really bad storms was headed north up from France. It passed over us as we crossed the lanes, the good news being that as it was headed north and we were headed south our exposure to it was less in time than had we been stationary or going the same way as the storm. We disconnected all aerials and moved the leads well away, put the Decca (it was pre GPS) in the cooker as I'd heard that was a good idea. We also hung a length of chain, normally used as a mooring strop, from a shroud into the water. The lightning was horrendous and hitting the water all around us yet despite having TWO metal sticks stuck up in the air the boat wasn't hit. The rain when it came was in stair rods and a far bigger problem then became seeing the ships in the lanes even with radar but at least the lightning had moved past. The same storm did lots of damage as it crossed the UK coast with lots of strikes.
dea.

Think that must have been the slow moving storm that hit us when we were returning from France some years ago. It started just as we entered the west bound shipping lane lightning was hitting the sea all around us and almost zero visibility, we needed to reef badly but were scared to touch the reefing lines. Plugged in the remote for the autohelm and steered from under the sprayhood so no one had to go behind the wheel close by the aft shrouds.
To be in the cockpit I needed to wear my snorkelling goggles the rain was so painful.
We were dodging ships we saw on radar but not visually using radar, doubt they would have seen us but AIS would make it easier now.
The storm stayed with us for several hours until we were just a few miles short of the Needles, when we got in the Solent we dropped the hook in Alum Bay in sunshine and a flat calm and had several large G&T's to recover.
A very unpleasant experience I shall never forget.

 

[chinita]

Amongst all this talk of ovens, earthing straps, and etc. I'm surprised no-one has said the obvious.... "just don't go out"

Absolutely agree. Different matter when caught out but I would not dream of taking to sea if thunderstorms are forecast.

My most frightening time was singlehanding my wooden Vertue from Hull to Ramsgate. I was about 50 miles east of Lowestoft when a horrible storm descended.

I hove to, went below and trembled for about 30 minutes.

10 minutes after it passed, the sun shone and I was invaded by a plague of flies!

 

[Seajet]

Mentioned on the TV programme QI, apparently an American chap has survived personally being hit by lightning 11 times !

Comedian Rich Hall; " yeah, I know that guy; he's kinda grumpy "...

 

[TQA]

First hand experience then! How was the boat afterwards?

It was a 38 foot steel ketch and the hit was to the main masthead. Everything on the masthead was gone. VHF aerial, tricolour and windex just disappeared. The damage to the electrical and electronics was variable. About 40 % of my fluorescent lights need the electronics repairing my TV was dead despite being unplugged and on a wooden table but my Amstraad 512 computer and GPS both survived beside it as did my Yaesu 707 ham set despite not being unplugged.

An unexpected effect of the hit was that the hull was strongly magnetised and the compass was useless pointing in the same direction regardless of heading. I had it degaussed by the guy who does the USA Navy boats for a 6 pack - one of the good people in the world.

I was down below when I got hit and the air in the cabin went fuzzy blue for a second and I was deaf for about a day. My cat also did not like it and went into hiding for a day or two.

I was told that sailboats in that area can expect a hit every 10 years on average, I don't know if that is true or not but I certainly have met a number of people who have been hit, usually with much more damage than I sustained. I suspect that a steel boat will do better than glass or wood. [ Faraday cage effect ]

 

[Ional]

We were 'spiked' off Audierne one very hot day in July a few years back. So little wind we had just got the cruising chute out when we heard the first rumbles.......took it down, pronto. No sign of forked lightening but wierd uprush? of wind effect. Put electrical stuff in oven, the captain got a shock removing the radio from its connection to the mast. Then we noticed the elecronic log was wiped, and the true/apparent wind instrument was reversed!!!!Had to have it repaired.

We never felt a hit, but the hair was standing up on my arms!!!!

Have been moored next to French boats in marinas which get their anchor chains out and drape them around the deck in the marina! Not so funny at 2am.

We now have an aluminium Ovni......its our Faraday cage, so fingers crossed.

 

[KellysEye]

If you are sailing offshore (i.e. no other boats nearby) you feel like the proverbail sitting duck. It's the scariest thing in sailing, a full gale comes nowhere near close.

We had a strike about 50 feet in front of the boat and Elmo's fire crackling in the rigging. In Trinidad we went on board a boat the had been hit all the elctronics had fried but the most amazing thing was the scorch mark on the ensign tied to the backstay,

 

[RichardS]

the most amazing thing was the scorch mark on the ensign tied to the backstay,

So that's what they mean by a defaced ensign!

Richard

 

[Deleted member 36384]

.... We now have an aluminium Ovni......its our Faraday cage, so fingers crossed.

It also dissipates the heat very fast which would lessen the probability of fire.

 

[Abestea]

I saw a boat getting struck once and that was quite a brown trouser moment. It was on a mooring while we were in the Holy Loch Marina. It was during my day skipper course which managed to blow force 9 almost throughout the whole length of it.

I had just looked out the hatch to see how miserable the weather was when crack!! A huge bolt struck a boats mast. I am unsure what damage it did but i certainly would not have liked to be on that boat. I was a bit concerned that we would be next.

 

[farmerdan79]

So item list for sailing tomorrow:

Numerous pairs of underpants,
Life jacket (as always)
An oven big enough to fit all crew and gadgets in

Sorted.

I will also be following my dear Mums classic thunder storm advice, by not standing near any trees... In the Solent...

 

[Nostrodamus]

I have been in two thunder storms and have never been hit although our house was once and it blew plaster all over from a cable in the wall.
On the boat I was very worried but the wife and kids just thought it looked beautiful. I had not mentioned the effects and though ignorance is bliss at a time like this.
I did put what I could in the oven which puzzled them but just said we were having microwaved chips.
Just out of curiosity, what happens to marine life in the vacinity of a lightning strike. Would it cook the fish to go with my microwaved chips?

 

[oldharry]

FWIW, I know someone who has a steel plate connected to the base of her mast, with a tight shackle to a length of battery cable which goes overboard in thunderstorms. So far, it has worked well; she has not been struck

I finding sitting sweating works just as well. I havent been struck yet either.

It is well known lightning doesnt like going round corners, and a hefty bolt will blast straight down through the hull to the metal keel. I cant see a 300amp cable making much difference to a 10,000amp lightning bolt?

In any case, earthing the mast doesnt seem like such a good idea to me, as a well earthed mast would quite likely attract the lightning bolt. Ground leaders develop froma number of nearby points as the approaching step leader descends. The strongest ground leader makes contact and provides the path for the main discharge.

I would not want a well earthed mast developing ground leaders, personally. Just my opinion in the matter, so I still have a welly to hand....

Seriously though they do recommend not having any sharp vertical elements at the top of a mast, as these do encourage the developement of ground leaders:

Probably a failed leader that caused the problems on Ionals boat

 

[Seajet]

Sharp vertical elements; like VHF aerials & Windex ?!

 

[sighmoon]

Just out of curiosity, what happens to marine life in the vacinity of a lightning strike. Would it cook the fish to go with my microwaved chips?

I think not.
The webcast chap said holes in boats, caused by lightening are at the waterline, so my understanding is that the voltage is between the sea surface and the clouds. Zilch below.

What a great thread this has turned out to be - I've learned loads (except how to make my boat lightening safe)

 

[Seajet]

There was a thing marketed ( I think American made, and very likely one of the gimmicks Old Harry mentions ) that looked like an inverted bessum broom with metal spikes all around splayed out at 45 degrees or so from the masthead, to prevent 'streamers' forming.

No idea if it's still available or more to the point, if it works.

Yet another example of " We've never had any complaints " ?

 

[farmerdan79]

I think not.
The webcast chap said holes in boats, caused by lightening are at the waterline, so my understanding is that the voltage is between the sea surface and the clouds. Zilch below.

What a great thread this has turned out to be - I've learned loads (except how to make my boat lightening safe)

I'm glad I started it!

Based on the learnings from above, it seems a submarine is a good option

 

[Mark-1]

I think not.
The webcast chap said holes in boats, caused by lightening are at the waterline, so my understanding is that the voltage is between the sea surface and the clouds. Zilch below.

That's how I heard it.

 

[vyv_cox]

It is well known lightning doesnt like going round corners, and a hefty bolt will blast straight down through the hull to the metal keel. I cant see a 300amp cable making much difference to a 10,000amp lightning bolt?

In any case, earthing the mast doesnt seem like such a good idea to me, as a well earthed mast would quite likely attract the lightning bolt. Ground leaders develop froma number of nearby points as the approaching step leader descends. The strongest ground leader makes contact and provides the path for the main discharge.

That's what I would have thought too and I have read of cases in which an earthing plate placed beneath the mast and conductor was blown out of the bottom of the boat.

However this site seems to say different