Watch the Weather.
Even the best-laid plans for the perfect boating outing can be turned upside down by Mother Nature. Watch the sky. Know what to look for in clouds. Be very conscientious about spotting lightning. It never hurts to know as much as you can about the weather. Courses are available at local colleges and online on what to look for in the sky and plan for weather fronts that can change on a dime.
The odds of your boat being struck by lightning are about one in 1,000. However, your odds are skewed, depending on your location. If you are in Montana, you have good chances that it won't happen, but in a popular boating state like Florida, surrounded by water, you will have less luck. One-third of the country's lightning insurance claims are filed in Florida.
According to William J. Becker, University of Florida IFAS Extension, in a report for the National Association of State Departments of Agriculture, NASDA, Florida averages more than ten deaths and thirty injuries from lightning per year. Approximately fifty percent of the deaths and injuries occur to individuals involved in recreational activities. Nearly forty percent of those are water-related: boating, swimming, surfing, and others.
Sailboats are more likely to be struck than powerboats because lightning is attracted to the mast. In the powerboat category, trawlers are struck more than other powerboats.
What is Happening When Lightning Strikes?
Becker describes it as, "The upper portion of the cloud develops a positive electrical charge, the lower level a negative electrical charge. Because it is a poor conductor of electricity, the air restricts the regular flow of electricity between these, attracting electrical charges.
While this phenomenon is occurring in the clouds, a similar event is occurring on the surface.
Negative charges repel negative charges and attract positive charges. So, as a thunder cloud passes overhead, a concentration of positive charges accumulates in and on all objects below the cloud. Since these positive charges are attempting to reach the negative charge of the cloud, they tend to accumulate at the top of the highest object around. On a boat that maybe the radio antenna, the mast, a fishing rod, or a person!"
Lightening makes its own Schedule.
While you can take steps to lessen the damage lightning will cause, you can't prevent a strike.
What happens when your boat is Struck?
NOAA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, www.noaa.gov., estimates a strike contains around 30,000,000 volts. Your boat's electronics are most susceptible to damage. Most 12-volt electronics will be damaged, if not all, electronics on your vessel.
At times, the strike will hopscotch around the boat, and collateral damage occurs when a nearby vessel gets hit, either the result of the lightning's powerful electromagnetic field or the current induced by the field running through the boat's shore-power cord. Some electronics will be damaged; others will not. Check your compass. There may be no external damage, but the compass heading significantly affected.
Precautions to Reduce Personal Injury and Damage from Lightening.
When a thunderstorm of any kind is approaching, whether lightning is present or not;
- Get everyone out of the water – scuba divers, swimmers, jet skiers, and stop any fishing activities.
- Stay in the center of the cabin of the boat.
- Keep arms and legs in the boat.
There is no such thing as a boat being lightning proof, but you can take steps to make your vessel lightning protected. Most pleasure craft are made of fiberglass or wood, not providing the automatic grounding protection offered by metal-hulled craft. When lightning strikes a small boat, the electrical current is searching for any route to ground, including the human body, an excellent conductor of electricity.
Major lightning protective equipment includes an air terminal, main conductor, and a ground plate. Secondary components are secondary conductors, lightning arrestors, lightning protective gaps, and connectors. Lightning arrestors and lightning protective gaps are used to protect radios and other electronic equipment, which are subject to electrical surges.
If a sailboat mast is made of conductive material, a conductor securely fastened to the mast and extending six inches above the mast and terminating in a receiving point, or a radio antenna can serve as the air terminal.
Captain Chuck Reed, and his wife, Linda, sailed their 36' Catalina sailboat from Detroit to the Caribbean and lived aboard for three years. Reed, the owner of CLR Marine, used a shaft saver on Silent Dream to to keep the boat totally ungrounded, and also save the prop shaft if a line got wrapped around it. Yes, it did save the prop shaft one time and being totally ungrounded he feels that it did save them from the lightning. The Reeds encountered many thunderstorms that included lightning, their boat did not suffer any damage due to lightning.
The National Fire Protection Association, Lightning Protection Code
For a more detailed summary of how to protect your boat from a lightning strike, refer to the National Fire Protection Association's Lightning Protection Code. www.nfpa.org.
Shaft Savers are available at https://www.clrmarine.com/462m4/marine-hardware/shaft-couplers.html
Watch the weather. Stay safe.
Fair Winds and Smooth Sailing
To obtain more information about the products and services mentioned in this article, please contact CLR Marine https://www.clrmarine.com/.
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Award-winning author Cheryl Kuba has been at the helm for more than 30 years sailing the Great Lakes, with side trips to the British Virgin Islands and St. Maarten. She has served as past- Commodore of Great Lakes Fleet 21 -Chicago region. 3happycampers.com
©Copyright Cheryl Kuba, 3happycampers.com
