On 2008-11-12 05:25:05 -0500, "Roger Long" said:

Jere Lull wrote:

But there are funner things to do since it seems the commercial
products seem to attract strikes.

I don't see a shred of evidence to support this. I think it more
likely that people who are on the water enough in frequent strike zones
to be at high risk install protection and therefore get struck more
often simply because they are at higher risk.

My evidence is anecdotal only, primary one was one boat getting a
bottle brush installed by the factory team. Though the boat's mast was
relatively short compared to dozens of boats around it, it was the only
one hit -- a couple of weeks later. The device's insurance ensured they
paid nothing to get everything fixed, but they weren't able to get
enough of the systems up to use the boat that season.

Even land-based lightning rods have to be very carefully installed or
they attract strikes. (that's something I read in school, perhaps
connected to Ben Franklin.)

--
Jere Lull
Xan-à-Deux -- Tanzer 28 #4 out of Tolchester, MD
Xan's pages: http://web.mac.com/jerelull/iWeb/Xan/
Our BVI trips & tips: http://homepage.mac.com/jerelull/BVI/