"Parallax" wrote in message
om...
"rnh17" wrote in message
...
How do you define "effective" area?
Your equation assumes that any lightning within the effective area of
your
boat will strike your boat. If that were the case I'd be very afraid.

"Parallax" wrote in message
om...
Out of curiosity, I did a quick back of the envelope estimate of the
probability of a lone sailboat getting hit by lightning in a
thunderstorm.

...


As I said, effective area is defined as pi*9*(mast height squared).
This is comes from the distance over which a conductor over a flat
conducting plane (3* mast height) has minimal effect on the electric
field distribution(you know, the area of a circle being pies are
squared.

Do you have any equations for chance of getting bitten by a shark? But
seriously, I have no idea what you mean by "the distance...minimal effect on
the field distribution," but for the layman, why do you equate this with
lightning striking in that area?