Shocking!

[Harrison]

Well I'm glad that at least someone else has experienced this before. Starting to think I was loosing it.

Not that I wish this experience on anyone else, but . . .
I was starting to worry that I may have to cancel that trip through the Bermuda triangle.

[Richard O'Brien]

Actually I'm kind of sorry I answered it somewhat. i liked where mark , Mike, & Waternwaves were taking this thread. I don't fully understand what's happening yet, bcause it usually requires rain to pull those ions down I thought, but my experience as yours occurred in wind gusts on the distant leading edge of a thunderhead?

[Zoran]

I was watching a show about lightning couple years ago and I learned something I did not know before. By recording lightning with high speed camera they proved that lighting is actually starting from the ground in the same time and sometimes even before it starts from the clouds. Some sort of many baby lightning are forming from the ground towards the sky and one of them get connected from the lightning starting from the clouds when you have real hit. In fact they stated that many never connect and they recorded many baby lightnings that were just couple feet up to couple meters standing in the air for a second and never connected and finalized because there is not enough potential or charge to bridge the gap. What are you describing looks like starts of a lighting in a thunderstorm and you were really close to be hit with the real thing. Since all these boats around you were smaller and lower than you and they have no electronics connected you were pretty much like the alone tree in a field that get hit in every thunderstorm with addition of source of electricity to start baby sparks or lightning lines or whatever you want to call them.
You were lucky to come out with no damage. Closest I ever been to the lightning hit was standing on a top of a hill and all my hair started raising up like I got connected to the static electricity generator ( we played with these in school) , scared the s..(omething) out of me, I hurried down to a valley and minute later it hit about 500 yards away from me.

Zoran

[kmclemore]

I dunno.... I still think it was your flux capacitor.

[Tom Root]

Strange, but believable! I have only been in one area in my whole life of sailing that made me leery of the effects of possible lightning strikes. This was in Utah on Lake Powell, with a floatila of a dozen+ sailboats in our club. Only two boats decided to leave their masts home, as the wind ONLY exists there when you don't want to be sailing there anyway! They have torrential downpours and extreme wind periodically.

It really blows then, and usually with enough warning...clouds etc. we head to an onshore campsite and anchor on shore (fore anchor) and offshore (stern anchor). Each and every storm in our week there gave me the willies! None of the boats were ever struck, but with the extreme amount of lightning....it was a wonder!

I think this lightning thing should be taken serious, and those of you in lightning country (Fla particularly) should consider the sage advice offered by some seasoned sailors, and scientists that exist on this board. (Water-N- Waves is one).

A dielectric connection of some sort would be one solution to lessen the propability. That is you have a connection in all rigging to other parts of the hull, that is not conducive for electricity. This may not be what is reccomended by some, in that it is said that all rigging is bonded to ALL other parts. This is favorable as long as their is absolutley no bonding with other metal parts of the boat. If the standing rigging is a closed loop, then a discharge path that is created on a large surface immersed in the water, that is metalic, could be a cure.

With the amount of mega slop in our keels, it may be as simple as copper plate hammered to fit most if not all the surface of the keel, this bonded via keelbolt, by 00 or greater sized (guage) copper cable, and continued on to be bonded to the compression post. This connection could be done inside to the bolt that holds the swing keel up (swing assembly) The four SS bolts from the post to the mast should suffice to complete this loop. One must ensure via resistance checks that Nothing else on the boat is bonded to the standing rigging.

It was interesting to note the effects you described of arcing going on between the rigging and the lifeline (stancions?), seems that loop had a difference of potential, possibly? The analogy that was used as you being a very large capacitor may not be far off, and even possibly right on the money! You were in a fresh water lake, very little direct contact existed with the body of water, and your potential was less for a hit that day. Luck was on your side, that day, my friend!

Disconnecting all antenna's is a good idea, and someone here had a NEGATIVE A-B switch vice POSITIVE loop, installed in their boat. I cannot seem to find it at this time, but that actually makes more sense, because it would give all electronics in the system the capability to be isolated from the ground loop....this is a good thing IMHO!

Thank you so much for your interesting recount....it is a concern of mine, and most sailboats although it may be a rare occurance, are more likely to be hit by lightning many times over, than me as a SCUBA diver ever being attacked by a shark!

Someone also said to lower the mast if impending lightening is emminent. I for one, do not want to be near any metal when mother nature throws those nasty bolts of electric current in my direction. When you see or hear it, it's usually way too late!

Also interesting to note that you did not get shocked by the wheel, but did on the depth finder. This instrument has direct contact with the water, and that adds up also! Maybe a diconnect is in order in this case also! Turning off all electronics is a good thing of course, if you don't want them fried!

What really got me wondering about all of this, is the many lightning strike repairs I did as an Avionics tech on aircraft. In twenty odd years maybe only a handfull, but the worst one was on an OV-10 Bronco (Twin boom Turbo-prop). The event was recollected by the pilots as they said the lightning bolt entered the airframe, directly in the front near the windscreen, traveled between their legs, and followed all the way back to one rudder. It entered and opened up a quarter sized hole, and exited with a basketball sized one! He had hydraulics capabilty but most of the electronics in the bird fried to a crisp! He did an emergency landing with NO radio communications and handled the event well! Both crew members had to change their shorts of course!

So, what say you experts out there, chime in and offer advice....hey no liability, and as they say...you do get what ya pay for here, as it is free advice!

But what makes sense in what I propose, and what may make it worse....let's kick this one around some more!

[Tony D-26X_SusieQ]

Not to destroy a good myth but this is the effect that Benjamin Franklin was attempting to study when he was out flying that kite. He was attempting to measure the ion charges that occur during the leading winds just before a thunder storm hits. He had no intention of having his kite struck my a lightning bolt. Maybe we should ask him about it.

[Harrison]

Thanks everyone for all your posts. Many of them got me thinking, and anxious to get out of work and get on the boat. So that's what we did yesterday. Same crew, same boat, same configuration. DIFFERENT WEATHER. Absolutely no problems. We were constantly checking for ANY static/electrical discharges, non to be found.

So in a nutshell, I'm chalking this one off to atmospheric conditions.

Thanks again,
Harrison