Lightening!

[crun]

Got caught in a quick rain storm the other day. There wasnt any lightening but was thinking what i would do if there was. If you had to choose between being on the boat or in the middle of the woods a 30 feet away from the water, which would you choose. Also if you had to be on the water where would you want to be, in the middle or in a small cove? Any tips on the subject would be great. The safest place is where?

[smendez]

crun:

I've also been caught in really bad thunderstorms in the middle of the river. So bad in fact, that navigation becomes almost impossible. The rain would be falling so hard that you can't see where you're going, and lightning to boot.

At the time there wasn't much we could do other than to just sit and wait it out. That was in our previous boat. However, our new Tige has a really nice lightning rod - I mean Tower , so I wonder how much worse - if any - would the situation be the next time?

Any ideas out there?

[Hoots]

Here's a couple of thoughts:

1. Make yourself look as unappealing to lightning as possible by getting as far away from electrical equipment as you can. Get off of the water if possible. If you have to stay in your boat, I would say to get anchored in a cove with high banks and tall trees, turn everything off and stay low.

2. If you can, get out of the boat and get amongst some trees. Stay low but don't lay flat and don't lean against anything. Don't confuse this with the tornado solution of staying away from trees. Lightning is energy created by a HUGE electrical gradient between air/clouds and the ground. The energy is looking for the path of least resistance to the ground (sometimes it goes from the ground to the sky also). Air is not a good conductor so trees, power lines, antennas, or whatever else makes the jump easier on the lightning gets hammered. Don't be that thing that gets hammered.

3. I don't think fiberglass is a good conductor but somebody smarter than me can maybe tell us what would happen if lightning struck a boat with somebody in it while on the water.

[zeda]

Trees?????

A few thoughts on the lightening issue:

I'm pretty new with the boating scene (just purchased an 04 22V Riders Edition...still breaking the engine in....very nice), so I'm not sure what to do on a lake. I do have some experience with dry land though. Being an avid climber, you need to know how to handle potentially dangerous situations, lightning obviously falling into this category. Hanging out under trees or anything (rock outcroppings, etc.) for that matter is dangerous. Even though these objects are taller than you are, being near or under them pretty much puts you in the path of the lightening. I have read articles in mountaineering journals that recommend sitting on a smaller boulder (maybe two feet off of the ground) out in the open where trees or taller objects are in the vicinity.

[Hoots]

avid climber et al,

Excerpt from a University of Maine study posted on the Center for Disease Control safety website. Lots of good info there.

http://www.cdc.gov/nasd/docs/d000901...07/d000907.pdf