Bad Luck
 

An ex-girl friend's Pearson 10M was hit by lightning a few days ago.
She went aboard for the 1st sail of the season and found nothing
worked....electronics dead and even the bilge pump was dead. Insurance
was called and now she has the long process of a proper survey and
replacement of just about everything, which will take some time.
Hopefully the hull is not compromised. What a drag.
It's strange that every lightning strike I hear of at City Island is on
a mooring and never at a slip. Everyone I spoke to says this is just
luck since our marina is just 1/2 mile away from her mooring area.



RB
35s5
NY

Bad Luck
 

Hey Rob... What a coincidence! I just noticed this thread on one of
our MacGregor forums.

Best regards

Bill
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Posted: Mon May 22, 2006 11:11 am
Post subject: Lightning strike scare???

Was out yesterday on Long Island Sound in on and off showers when the
strangest thing happened. I could see a rather menacing looking shower
coming our way but not thunder and lightening so we stayed drifting (we
were fishing). As the storm approached but still 4-5 miles away, we
began to hear crackling coming from the top of the mast. touching the
mast, engine, etc produced no effect. Turning off all circuits and
electronics produced no change. Turning everything on and starting
engine produced no change.

As I began to think maybe some sort of charge was being built up on the
boat, we headed for the harbor. As we departed, we heard distant
thunder. By the time we got back to harbor no further crackling. We
went back on the water in sunny conditions for another 5 hours with no
crackling.

Any ideas of what I experienced? My only thought was that we were
building up a positive charge due to the potential negatively charged
atmosphere. I have heard a positive charge must develop oposite a
lightning bolt. Is this true?

Bad Luck
 

Bad Luck
 

...and you provided a place for the charge to run...

Thanks Katy... One of the subsequent posters on the Mac
forum came to the same conclusion as yours.

Cheers

Bill

Bad Luck
 

"Capt. Rob" wrote in message
ups.com...

It's strange that every lightning strike I hear of at City Island is on
a mooring and never at a slip. Everyone I spoke to says this is just
luck since our marina is just 1/2 mile away from her mooring area.

On a mooring a boat is a solitary object with a metal 'lightning rod'
protruding into the air above. When the charge in the sky attempts to find
a route of least resistance to the opposing charge on the Earth a solitary
mast is serendipitous. At the dock there are many masts protruding upward,
but there are also land-based objects nearby which probably offer as
favorable an opportunity to equalize those charges as the masts.

The principle is the same for golfers--don't stand alone in the open with a
9-iron over held aloft over your head in the thunderstorm unless meeting
your makers is chief on your list of things to do. Stay in the proximity of
trees, which will take the strike most likely.

Max

Bad Luck
 

I was out on long Island last Friday, while it was raining.
I parked in the street and noticed a tree smoking. Upon
further observation, I could see the power line arcing ,
which was burning the tree. The rain kept it from flaming
up. I called 911, the fire dept. came out, looked at it and
said, ''we can't do anything till it falls down''. Then they
left. the tree was still smoking.

Scotty



"Maxprop" wrote in

The principle is the same for golfers--don't stand alone
in the open with a
9-iron over held aloft over your head in the thunderstorm
unless meeting
your makers is chief on your list of things to do. Stay
in the proximity of
trees, which will take the strike most likely.

Max

Bad Luck
 

Don't lie down either. Crouch on the front part of your feet to reduce your
connectivity profile with the ground.

--
"j" ganz @@
www.sailnow.com

"Maxprop" wrote in message
nk.net...

"Capt. Rob" wrote in message
ups.com...

It's strange that every lightning strike I hear of at City Island is on
a mooring and never at a slip. Everyone I spoke to says this is just
luck since our marina is just 1/2 mile away from her mooring area.

On a mooring a boat is a solitary object with a metal 'lightning rod'
protruding into the air above. When the charge in the sky attempts to
find a route of least resistance to the opposing charge on the Earth a
solitary mast is serendipitous. At the dock there are many masts
protruding upward, but there are also land-based objects nearby which
probably offer as favorable an opportunity to equalize those charges as
the masts.

The principle is the same for golfers--don't stand alone in the open with
a 9-iron over held aloft over your head in the thunderstorm unless meeting
your makers is chief on your list of things to do. Stay in the proximity
of trees, which will take the strike most likely.

Max

Bad Luck
 

Run to the nearest steel hull. Safest place around for you and your
electronics. A buddie here had his P42 to hit, melted all the wiring on
the whole boat, fried everything.

Joe

Bad Luck
 

The mooring is tied to a conducting chain which is anchored into the earth.

A dock boat is usually tied with insulating lines to a wooden dock.

It's easier to pump excess charge by electrostatic induction to the moored
boat as the earth has virtually unlimited available charge and there is a
conduction path to the mast or boat. The docked boat can only redistribute
the charge available on the hull or polarize to the external field.

Bad Luck
 

Scotty wrote:
Most boats are tied to their mooring by nylon line.


Yes, but under certain conditions, such as when shackles &
thimbles are used on the mooring line, it can conduct one
heck of a charge.

DSK

Bad Luck
 

"Scotty" wrote in message
...
Most boats are tied to their mooring by nylon line.

Nylon line saturated with salt and salt water. The dry part may be only a
few feet long which may have relatively low resistance. Plus there's a salt
water conduction path from the mooring bouy anchor chain to the grounding
plate on the boat. The grounding plate is usually tied to the mast.

Bad Luck
 

"Bob Crantz" wrote in message
...
The mooring is tied to a conducting chain which is anchored into the
earth.

But the boat is insulated from the chain by a rope painter. Fresh water is
moderately conductive, but not nearly as much as brine. If you have a
ground "shoe" on the outside of the hull below the waterline, the current
will be directed through it into the water and then to the Earth.

A dock boat is usually tied with insulating lines to a wooden dock.

See above.

It's easier to pump excess charge by electrostatic induction to the moored
boat as the earth has virtually unlimited available charge and there is a
conduction path to the mast or boat. The docked boat can only redistribute
the charge available on the hull or polarize to the external field.

See above. Most boats are grounded to the water. Or they should be.

Max

Bad Luck
 

"DSK" wrote in message
. ..
Scotty wrote:
Most boats are tied to their mooring by nylon line.


Yes, but under certain conditions, such as when shackles & thimbles are
used on the mooring line, it can conduct one heck of a charge.

It can also be a conductor if saturated with brine. But as a rule nylon
lines don't conduct much juice.

Max

Bad Luck
 

Pointy bits attract lightning. therefore it is important to keep your head
well down and ensure that your butt is your highest point. Do not move
until all the storm has gone past. Obviously you must be in open ground and
not under a tree.

"Capt. JG" wrote in message
...
Don't lie down either. Crouch on the front part of your feet to reduce
your
connectivity profile with the ground.

--
"j" ganz @@
www.sailnow.com

"Maxprop" wrote in message
nk.net...

"Capt. Rob" wrote in message
ups.com...

It's strange that every lightning strike I hear of at City Island is on
a mooring and never at a slip. Everyone I spoke to says this is just
luck since our marina is just 1/2 mile away from her mooring area.

On a mooring a boat is a solitary object with a metal 'lightning rod'
protruding into the air above. When the charge in the sky attempts to
find a route of least resistance to the opposing charge on the Earth a
solitary mast is serendipitous. At the dock there are many masts
protruding upward, but there are also land-based objects nearby which
probably offer as favorable an opportunity to equalize those charges as
the masts.

The principle is the same for golfers--don't stand alone in the open
with
a 9-iron over held aloft over your head in the thunderstorm unless
meeting
your makers is chief on your list of things to do. Stay in the
proximity
of trees, which will take the strike most likely.

Max

Bad Luck
 

Maxprop wrote:


The principle is the same for golfers--don't stand alone in the open with a
9-iron over held aloft over your head in the thunderstorm unless meeting
your makers is chief on your list of things to do.

Nah, you reach into your bag and hold up 1 iron, not even God can hit a
1 iron.

Cheers
Marty

Bad Luck
 

Nutsy,

I'm really not sure that its luck.

Far be it for me to act as an expert on lightening but I've made the
same observation. Not sure that the amount of mast disperses the charge,
where as a single mast sticking up draws the charge. Who knows? Not me.

I've seen the same thing happen when I was in a Raft-up and the boat
coming to join us was the one hit

http://community.webtv.net/tassail/ThomPage

Bad Luck
 

http://www.allteccorp.com/products/l...rotection.html

Bad Luck
 

"Edgar" wrote in message
...
Pointy bits attract lightning. therefore it is important to keep your head
well down and ensure that your butt is your highest point. Do not move
until all the storm has gone past. Obviously you must be in open ground
and
not under a tree.

Being under a tree would be foolhardy, but being on open ground is equally
so. Get within 20 meters of trees or buildings to be safe. On open ground
you are the highest object around and therefore the most direct path for
charged particles to take to neutralize themselves with their opposing
charges in the Earth. Fact: most sky/ground lightning originates from the
ground up, so the highest object becomes the most likely conductor.

Max

Bad Luck
 

Bob,

Reading Alltec write up; they say "Helps prevent------" I don't see
prevents anywhere or do I see any concert comparison to number of
strikes for protected against unprotected.

I've heard a lot of comparison between used car salesmen and lightning
rod salesmen!

http://community.webtv.net/tassail/ThomPage