On Sat, 28 Apr 2007 02:40:19 +0000, Larry wrote:

" wrote in
ups.com:

Do you think
that the resistance is small enough on stainless wire to dissipate the
static charge, or would it be better to ground the mast to the sea
with a low resistance wire to deal with the static?


Static, yes. NOTHING dissipates lightning's pulse.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=djZo0...elated&search=
Watch his hand arc to the insulated-from-ground motorcycle! EMP caused the
bike to be instantly charged.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lUUOd...elated&search=
Direct hit on a minivan on the road!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bNhY3...elated&search=
This one hitting a tower would be what your boat mast would look like....

Larry

Wow Larry!
I think I'll walk back home a liitleways behind my wife who will have
an open umbrella. You are quite right. There is nothing so numbing to
one's sense of well being than to be on a yacht that is the highest
thing around with lightning hitting the sea around you. It is a
horrible feeling of just waiting and knowing inside your soul that it
will probably happen soon. It's quite amazing what it does to a
normally rational mind. Does sacrificing chickens help in anyway? I
could carry a cage over the stern. So, if Zeus is angry at us Greeks
for neglecting to worship him for the past 1700 years or so, we could
appease him with a little chicken? Or, should I aquire a bronze tripod
and brazier and offer hecatombs of fat ox flesh in a fire?

My wife's people (Maori's) in New Zealand always throw back the first
fish (no matter how big or even if they have caught nothing for hours)
caught as an offering to the sea god Tangaroa even though they are
Christian, as educated as anyone else and don't believe in the old
god's. When there, I even do it. Scratch modern man and the primitive
is only beneath the skin. You just never know.

So, how about chickens?

cheers
Peter