What do "you" do when sailing and it starts to thunder&lightning?

Re: I usually start humming \"Ride of the Valkyre\" and carry on

I was so suprised to find sooo many posts i havent read them yet! Ive copied them to read off line later!

Its amazing i looked up at my mast and the looked at the flatish sea and wished my mast wasent so high! The thing is you can do anything,when theres still hours to go before landing its only posaible to wait and hope!

Fears really dreadfull it was hard to move i had to force myself to get things done at all!!

Im becomeing increasingly tempted to become a canal sailor?Its only the need for premits and closeness to land that put me off.
 
Re: What do \"you\" do when sailing and it starts to thunder&lightning?

If you are hit all electronic gear -except that stored in a closed tin box such a s a biscuit tin - will be toast. Therefore keep the handheld gps and vhf in the tin box when there's lightning around.


I do the chain round the shrouds bit as well but generally sail next to a taller rigged boat on the basis that the'll be hit - not me.
 
Re: I usually start humming \"Ride of the Valkyre\" and carry on

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So many replys!!!Im shocked to see that no one has been near a thunder storm!

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I'm in enough trouble for talking about my thunderstorm experience.

Stay below and pray to the gods of thunder.
 
Re: I usually start humming \"Ride of the Valkyre\" and carry on

My nephew was struck by lightning on a golf course. He survived, although he was thrown a few yards. They keep you in hospital and keep checking your blood. Seems it can have a serious effect on your heart, which shows up in blood tests.
 
Re: I usually start humming \"Ride of the Valkyre\" and carry on

Remember reading that playing golf is a good way of getting struck. Hence the advice from Lee Trevino

"If you are caught on a golf course during a storm and are afraid of lightning, hold up a 1-iron. Not even God can hit a 1-iron."
 
Re: I usually start humming \"Ride of the Valkyre\" and carry on

Phil, hope your nephew is ok.

Was he thrown TOWARDS the green or AWAY from it???

Did this affect his score? /forums/images/graemlins/ooo.gif
 
Re: I usually start humming \"Ride of the Valkyre\" and carry on

It seems he was thrown towards hospital. One moment he was on the course, the next he was in hospital.
 
Re: What do \"you\" do when sailing and it starts to thunder&lightning?

all of the above, though i prefer a suckling pig!

and fix lightning cable to mast and connect to shrouds and hang discharge end in sea. drop sails too then reach for soap.
 
Re: I usually start humming \"Ride of the Valkyre\" and carry on

Trouville the canals may not be safer --- I took a direct lightning strike up the Potomac river near Washington DC.. Wiped out everything in the boat and killed lots of fishes as well as damaging the alternator in a boat anchored nearby which was not hit so it was my hit which damaged him - I think,,

It was daytime. I was standing in the cockpit with rainwater sloshing around my feet wearing only shorts and a T shirt. No shoes nothing else... There was a bloody great bank like an artillery piece going off just as I was counting down the now tiny gap between lightning and thunder noise... The rain was so intense I could not see the bows... I saw some bits of plastic dropping into view which I think were my wind vane equipment and masthead light... I put the full story on my web site..

I have met several other people on the other side of the pond who have taken direct hits onto their boats whilst sailing but suffered no personal damage except big fright from the bang!!! -

By the by - I have a skirt on board from my Polynesian days... very comfortable and user friendly particularly in really hot weather - women know a thing or two!! Not sure I would wear it in La Rochelle high street????
 
Re: What do \"you\" do when sailing and it starts to thunder&lightni

Funniest thread of the week /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 
Re: I usually start humming \"Ride of the Valkyre\" and carry on

Friends of mine took a direct lightning hit in southern USA. Every single piece of electrical wire on the boat, and I do mean every, was burnt out. The conduit around the boat burst inwards and set some upholstery on fire. Every piece of electronic equipment was utterly destroyed.

I suspect that some people who claim a direct hit have actually suffered a close miss. The atmosphere in the area becomes saturated with electromagnetic charge that can be enough to fail electronics. I have been standing in the water, holding the rigging of a dinghy, when lightning struck a hill about a mile away. I received a significant electric shock and got out of the water pretty fast!
 
\'cept that...

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I vote SGPE gets this month's award for most sensible, succinct and s... (oh, hang it) useful advice.

[/ QUOTE ]

...he can't spell Valkyrie

Steve Cronin
 
Re: What do \"you\" do when sailing and it starts to thunder&lightning?

If you have a metal mast (or a grounded wooden mast) you are, theoretically, protected from a direct strike by the lightning protective zone around the boat. This doesn't protect the electronics but at least you won't get fried yourself.
 
Re: What do \"you\" do when sailing and it starts to thunder&lightning?

Also been there several times in the past but never hit - we also do the anchor cable round the backstay bit. Just one point though, in fact lightning does not strike down from the clouds (when they bump into each as my secretary believes), it actually goes up from the surface, so you need an electrical potential spot to start it off. If your mast is well earthed then it is at the same potential as the sea and I expect this is why yachts get hit a great deal less than one might expect.
Also if you have been hit check your rigging as it can weld wire strand rigging togehter which seriously weakens it.

Mind you, the idea of putting the wife in the oven and standing naked on the top of the mast with a chicken also has its merits - might just try that next time, hell might even try it anyway!!! /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 
Re: What do \"you\" do when sailing and it starts to thunder&lightning?

> Just one point though, in fact lightning does not strike down from the clouds (when they bump into each as my secretary believes), it actually goes up from the surface<

No. Ground to cloud does happen, but is nearly always stimulated by a weak leader originating from the cloud and drawing a ground discharge towards it. But also...

Cloud to ground lightning
Cloud-to-ground lightning is the most damaging and dangerous form of lightning. It is not the most common type, but it is the one that is best understood. Most cloud-to-ground lightning strikes come from the negatively charged bottom of the cloud traveling to the positively charged ground below. Some cloud-to-ground lightning strikes deliver positive charges to the ground. Positive strikes are less common and come from the higher regions of the thundercloud.

Often, cloud-to-ground lightning bolts strike the highest object, like the top of a building or the top of a tall tree. The lightning strikes can cause fire and property damage. If a person is the highest object in the lightning bolt's path, the lightning may strike the person. Lightning strikes can cause severe injury or death. Cloud-to-ground lightning is the best understood type of lightning because it leaves so much evidence behind.

In cloud lightning
In cloud lightning is the most common type of lightning. This occurs between oppositely charged centers within the same cloud. This means that there are both positive and negative charges within the same cloud. Usually the process takes place within the cloud and looks like a bright flash of light which flickers. This bright flash may leave the cloud and the flash can be visible for many miles.

Intercloud lightning
A less common lightning strike occurs between oppositely charged areas of different clouds. This means that there are positive and negative charges within different clouds and the strike travels in the air between them. This type of lightning is known as intercloud lightning.
 
Re: What do \"you\" do when sailing and it starts to thunder&amp;lightning?

/forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 
Re: What do \"you\" do when sailing and it starts to thunder&amp;lightni

I was wondering if you could put the whole boat in the oven?
 
Re: What do \"you\" do when sailing and it starts to thunder&amp;lightning?

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So how about a techincal assesment of being naked on the top of a maast with a dead chicken????

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All depends ,Is your chicken negative or positively charged.?? /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif
 
Re: What do \"you\" do when sailing and it starts to thunder&amp;lightni

buy a steel boat... one giant Faraday cage! Also reasonably well grounded... and less prone to burning.
 
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