Here along the Gulfcoast of Floida, we have some of the most spectacular lightning and thunderstorms during the summer that you could imagine. Most of the time, if you're on the water, and see it coming, it's already too late to escape.
Just wondered if any of you have had any exciting experiences with it.
I have been sailing for over 23 years and have been caught in a couple of storms that I couldn't get away. And, only once was I stung, and that will really get your attention.
Backin the old days, the 'Round the Island Race in the Floriday Pandhandle was actually run during this time of the year -- June. About the third year it was run, a bad thunderstorm came through (at night with about 150+ boats on the water), and that was one of the main reasons that it was eventually shifted to September like it is run now. All we have to do now is dodge the hurricanes. During that race in June, around 10PM, we were sailing a Stiletto 23, about 15 miles from the finish and were overtaken by the worst thunder and lightning storm I've ever experienced. It was bad enough with all the thunder and lightning, then throw in 30 knots of wind with 40 knot gusts in the dark! Well, you get the picture. The smell of ozone was ever present, and the wet hair on the back of your neck would stand up right before a strike. Lightning was striking all around us for about 30 minutes as we sailed on trying to control the boat. Finally a strike came down about 30 yards right in front of the boat. (I saw it.) Instantly the boat picked up the charge, it arced off the sidestay, hit me in the shoulder, zapped my heart (like trying to start a car with the engine already running) and came out my opposite elbow and back to the boat. Of couse this happened in about a mili-second second or less. First thought was - "we are dead and that didn't hurt nearly as bad as I thought it would". The thunder and lighning were simultaneous, and for about a second after the event, I couldn't see or hear anything. Then as I felt the rain hitting my face, I realized I was ok, other than a funny feeling in my elbow. After a few seconds, nobody on board had said a word, so I asked, "did you guys feel that?" The guy next to me had it arc between his feet, and the other guy on deck was laying down on the front tramp, and picked it up all over. He asked me if he was glowing. We managed to keep the boat upright, and the storm dissapated about 30 minutes later, but I always wondered why the lightning missed the boat and didn't go for that 36 foot aluminum mast we had stuck up in the air?
Hope all of you are safe this summer and careful around lightning. Here is a website that you might find interesting.
http://www.lightningsafety.noaa.gov/week.htmBe safe, and have fun. See you on the water.
Don
ARC22 #2226
