According to a program that was on the Orlando PBS station last night, lightning will be attracted to the tallest thing in the vicinity of the strike about to occur but can easily and quite often changes it's path to a lower elevated object in the last 100 feet of it's travel to earth. With that in mind, nothing is safe from a strike if it is within the charged area. Lightning's charge can also travel across wet earth and affect people standing upon it hundreds of yards apart.

My particular boat has a T6 aluminum frame and a 25' mast. I live in central Florida: the lightning capital of the world. Summer storms happen almost every afternoon. The thought of a strike is never far from my mind any time we're out there. Short of trying to get out of the way before conditions are ripe for a strike there is not much a sailor can do. Watching cloud development is the best warning.