Comments on: Lightning Strikes Again (and again)

By: Justin

Justin — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 18:11:11 +0000

I lived aboard a 38′ Moody sailboat as a child for about 4 years, age 8-12.

We once saw, in a very crowded harbor, the shortest mast in the harbor was struck by lightning. There were easily a hundred boats in the harbor. I don’t know how that one turned out though, but it didn’t sink. I think it may have been a small day sailor or race boat, probably not a lot of electronics to worry about.

There was another time in the Bahamas that we were anchored next to another boat of roughly the same size and mast height (approx 40ft length, and about 55ft mast heights.) They were anchored about 20 yards away, and they were hit at the top of the mast. The blast blew the vhf antenna clear off the mast, and it hit the water in flames. All the fluorescent lights below had their covers blown off and most of the electronics were fried. The anchor light, which was at the mast head and INCHES away from the point of the lightning strike, was the only thing still working.

Ours was a fiberglass boat with an aluminum deck-stepped mast. Whenever the weather got bad and lightning surrounded us, we always started the engine. The thought was that if we were ever struck and it blew out all of our electronics or engine starter, we could still beach the boat if the lightning happened to blow out a metal through-hull fitting.

Love the blog, by the way!!! Keep up the great work!

Fair winds,
Justin

There are various opinions on the efficacy of lightning rods on boats. Some feel that while they may work in transporting the electricity to the water, it can also increase the risk of a strike by attracting one to the lightning rod. We never had a lightning spike or anything like it on our boat.

We do have other friends, however, who have been struck 3 different times on the same boat, at different times. Three times they had to replace all of the electronics on board.

By: pete koehorst

pete koehorst — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 14:17:32 +0000

A few years ago, alongside the marina at Wrightsville Beach N.C. our 45ft. fibre glass sailing boat was struck by lightning. She has a deck stepped aluminium mast and a six ft, carbon antennae.My wife and I were on board and standing below amidships admiring the storm, when there was a terrific jolt. I rushed up on deck and saw a brown cloud hanging over the mast-top. The antennae was split down the middle as was the mast headlight lens and the bits were lying on deck. All the electrics, including the self steering computer were fried, except for the mast headlight, (strange?) and the radar, mounted on the mast. My guess is that there is no hard and fast rule as to the effects of a strike, and we were by no means the tallest mast in the marina.

By: Jay

Jay — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 21:36:10 +0000

I actually saw a fiberglass racing boat struck by lightning. Hard to tell exactly how the lightning traveled, but the aluminum mast is stepped directly to the steel keel, so most likely traveled down the mast through the keel to the water.

No one on the sailboat was injured.

A person on the powerboat towing them was thrown into the water, either from the force of the strike or the surprise of the helmsman of the power boat. (My money is on the later.) The man overboard was brought back on board quickly, wet with a great story and luckily no injuries at all.

While an interesting story – our club is much more careful about racing in potential thunderstorms.

By: Frank

Frank — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 02:43:33 +0000

I haven’t stumbled upon too many stories about boats getting struck by lightning, but I guess all is possible, and when lightning is around you, its frightening either way. And whoever took that picture must’ve made a fortune off of it, simply amazing

By: strathy

strathy — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 12:14:42 +0000

My guess is that it would not be a good situation for you. Aluminum conducts electricity just fine, but I assume this is an open boat – the lightning is going to hit you as much as the boat.

By: Ed Wise

Ed Wise — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 11:03:59 +0000

I have a 19 foot fishing boat. It is made of alluminum. What would happen to anyone in the boat if we were caught in a thunderstorm and the lightening hit the boat. This has been a subject that no one seems to know the answer

By: Hilly Harrison

Hilly Harrison — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 13:35:00 +0000

Really interested to find your blog. Please take a look at ours, http://www.svgoldenmean.com. We are a family of four plus a dog living on board for 5 years so far.

By: Daniel

Daniel — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 13:08:33 +0000

I’m from Portugal, but living in UK since May, London near thames. I read your blog from the beginning. Very nice indeed. I came here because i though maybe to live on a boat. I like boats, i love beeing near sea or river, though im not a pretty good swimmer. Need to improve this. I think i will join a sailing club and see where it will take me, cause i have no boat experience.
Keep your blog updated, its very nice to read it.

Cheers
Daniel

By: Filippa

Filippa — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 12:08:06 +0000

Very very nice picture. I was amazed and I thought that you have taken these pictures until I saw you comment about Mathias Roussea..

By: Constantino

Constantino — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 01:30:51 +0000

According to “Steel Away: A Guidebook to the World of Steel Sailboats”, “The concensus of opinion about lightning protection is to provide a direct path for grounding so that damage is held to a minimum. Therefore, steel is the safest hull material during a lightning strike, since the entire boat is grounded. The best protection comes when an aluminum mast is used since it acts as a giant lightning rod, but with a wood spar the stays will ground the current to the hull. A solid metal rod extending above all antennas and connected to the stays will assure that this is the path the lightning will take, although some masthead antennas can also serve as initial strike points.”
(Steel Away: A Guidebook to the World of Steel Sailboats. Windrose Publications, 1986)