[Rhodes22-list] Lighting Rod

Tue Mar 11 10:44:19 EDT 2014

Like Peter, I too got "hit" indirectly, if there is such a concept, while
anchored in a small bay surrounded by tall trees. I almost died from the
enormous boom that sounded like a cannon had gone off in my back pocket. All
of the electronics in the boat went out. So, I obviously wasn't hit but it
did scare the hell out of me.

The first time I ever sailed was when I purchased of an old 19' Lightening,
no pun there, and decided to sail it home even though I had never been in a
sailboat before - even as crew. I figured that I could always motor so what
could go wrong? To get to the point, once well out to sea the motor stalled
and would not start, the distance to home was far greater than I thought,
and as the sub set the wind dropped to zero. I found myself well out into
Lake Ontario utterly becalmed, in the dark, and no motor. That was when the
lightening first appeared in the south and within about 30 minutes the sky
above me was a continuous expanse of sheet lightening like I had never seen
before made all the more intense by the fact that with no wind the constant
explosions were reflected in the calm water all around me.

It was at that moment that I first began to wonder about the possibility of
a sailboat at sea being hit by lightening.   I began to theorize that being
the only point in the sky for at least a mile around made me the only
target. At the same time I had never heard of a sailboat being hit so I
debated in my mind all I knew about electricity, conductors and lightening -
which at the time was close to zero. I eventually concluded that my opinion
was worthless and either I would be hit or I wouldn't.

The one bit of helpful information that I could recall was that I had heard
that sometimes just prior to the strike your hair stands on end from the
build up of the static charge. So the only logical conclusion it seemed was
that if my hair stands up I should dive overboard. 

My mind then turned to the aftermath. If the boat was not hit, but I drowned
(quite likely) people would wonder why I would be in the water given the
calm water, and if I didn't drown I would be the laughing stock of the town
when I explained that I had abandoned ship because my hair stood up. The
loss of pride associated with that latter possibility persuaded me that the
only honourable course would be to go down with the ship. So I stayed in the
boat and, fortunately, was not hit. 

My subsequent reading about sailboats and lightening suggested that without
lightening protection one is much less likely to be hit but if you are hit
the damage and injury is likely to be great. That means that now that I was
better informed I am still back at the same point I was in when I was
sitting in the boat in a lightning storm trying to think this trough on my
own. This same dilemma seems to be reflected in the current Rhodes
discussion.

I am back to thinking that if my hair stands up I should head over the side
as quickly as possible. The only wrinkle here is that, unfortunately, I have
much less hair now that could act as a warning system. My crew (i.e.,
family) have been so advised of my strategy as well although I must admit
they seem a tad reluctant to embrace the idea. So, during storms I just
watch the one with the most hair.

I hope this little story is helpful to others.

Graham 

-----Original Message-----
From: rhodes22-list-bounces at rhodes22.org
[mailto:rhodes22-list-bounces at rhodes22.org] On Behalf Of peter klappert
Sent: March-11-14 2:23 AM
To: The Rhodes 22 Email List
Subject: Re: [Rhodes22-list] Lighting Rod

Gee, don't think I've ever been 1 in a million before, but my R22 got fried
by lightning 2 years ago on Tampa Bay. No visible damage to the boat itself,
but all the electronics got cooked. So it wasn't a direct hit, just Zeus
taking a pee nearby. After a fair amount of research on lightning mitigation
for sailboats, I decided crosst fingers are the only cost-effective
solution.

----- Original Message -----
From: "James Nichols" <jfn302 at yahoo.com>
To: "The Rhodes 22 Email List" <rhodes22-list at rhodes22.org>
Sent: Tuesday, March 11, 2014 1:03:38 AM
Subject: Re: [Rhodes22-list] Lighting Rod

The only way I'll be wining the Powerball is if a winning ticket blows into
my face while I'm out for a walk. 

James

-----Original Message-----
From: rhodes22-list-bounces at rhodes22.org
[mailto:rhodes22-list-bounces at rhodes22.org] On Behalf Of Michael D. Weisner
Sent: Monday, March 10, 2014 11:56 PM
To: 'The Rhodes 22 Email List'
Subject: Re: [Rhodes22-list] Lighting Rod

We've had these lightning "discussions" before on the list.  Just look
through the archives for as many opinions as there are replies.

The only thing that is certain is that the chance of being struck by
lightning, regardless of location, is about 1 in 1,000,000 (1 in nearly 4
million in NY but 1 in 614,000 in Florida,
http://discovertheodds.com/what-are-the-odds-of-being-struck-by-lightning).
The chance of winning at least $1,000,000 in the Powerball lottery is 1 in
5,153,632 (http://www.powerball.com/powerball/pb_prizes.asp).

Sooooo ... if you expect to win the Powerball lottery, I do not want to sail
with you.

Mike
s/v Shanghai'd Summer ('81)
s/v <-no name -> ('91)
Nissequogue River, NY

-----Original Message-----
From: rhodes22-list-bounces at rhodes22.org
[mailto:rhodes22-list-bounces at rhodes22.org] On Behalf Of James Nichols
Sent: Monday, March 10, 2014 10:43 PM
To: 'The Rhodes 22 Email List'
Subject: Re: [Rhodes22-list] Lighting Rod

Typically Lightning will not strike anything that does not give it a clear
path to ground, so running a wire from the mast to the water is only
inviting lightning to strike the boat more often.  Lightning, like water,
always looks for the easiest path to ground.  Fiberglass is an awesome
insulator,  so the mast doesn't typically attract lightning.  Also, while
lake and sea water conduct electricity (sea water is a much better conductor
because of the salt) Lightning on a lake setting will more likely hit a tree
on the shoreline because the path through the tree into the earth is much
easier than the path through the boat, through the water, then into the
ground.  Also, while most lightning happens during a storm, so the
fiberglass on the boat will be wet, the amount of water clinging to the deck
doesn't usually offer enough of an electrical pathway from the mast to the
main body of water  that the lightning would choose to strike the boat over
striking the water directly.

All these statements aside though, as Ron said, stay away from large metal
objects on the boat during a storm, and you should be fine.

As a side note about the quote about deaths of boaters but not sailboats.
The boats that have deaths are because they are running motorboats that have
large engines that create large electro-magnetic fields to drive the motor,
and they tend to run them all out, so the electro-magnetic field is as large
as it can get, and as they are screaming across the water, what they don't
realize is they are screaming, "STRIKE ME!!"  And nature says, "Ok."

-----Original Message-----
From: rhodes22-list-bounces at rhodes22.org
[mailto:rhodes22-list-bounces at rhodes22.org] On Behalf Of Ron Lipton
Sent: Monday, March 10, 2014 7:47 PM
To: The Rhodes 22 Email List
Subject: Re: [Rhodes22-list] Lighting Rod

The Rhodes is a lightning rod - there is no need to install another. The
real issue is diverting the current into the water rather then through you
or your electronics.  Such a system would include heavy gauge wire
connecting the mast to a large area conductor in the water.  Pretty
cumbersome.  The main thing is to stay away from metal during a storm. A
good reference is:

http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/sg071

" Every year there are multiple deaths of boaters in open boats caused by
lightning strikes, but very few reports of sailors in sailboats killed by
lightning"

Ron

> On Mar 10, 2014, at 19:15, <chcarreon at cox.net> wrote:
> 
> All,
>  Has anyone installed a lighting rod on a R22?  If so, how did you do it? 
> 
> Thanks much,
> Chuy
> __________________________________________________
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> 
> For the list Charter and help with using the mailing list and archives 
> go to http://www.rhodes22.org/list 
> __________________________________________________

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