I was doing some research on the web about lightning protection in a sailboat and found one sentence that surprised me. The author said the only way worse than being in a lightning storm than on a boat with a mast is to be on a boat without a mast. Apparently people are hit more on power boats than sail boats. I also remember when Hobie offered to retrofit my mast to the comptip mast, the pros and cons given said, as a con, the comptip mast reduced the cone of protection from lightning. From this I think that turning the boat over was not the best thing to do.

There is a lot of information on lightning protection on the internet. I have been trying to decide whether or not to ground the mast on my catboat(monohull). Grounding increases the chance of being struck but protects you and the boat. Not grounding the mast decreases the chance of being struck but increases the damage if it is. That may be why the catamaran doesn't get hit as much (no grounding).

The PFD with the accessories sounds like a great idea. I am going to re-evaluate my "preparations for sailing". Carrying a multi purpose tool with knife, pliers, etc. would be good if they are available in stainless.

Howard