Sid,

The Hobie 16 I grew up with was named "Lightning Rod" for the reason, that as a teenager, I used to like to take the boat out just before a storm and try to hit the beach before I was overrun by lightning. Needless to say, I don't recommend doing that. Anyway one time I hit the beach, dropped my sails, and was going away from the boat when it got hit. (There were taller trees nearby, but no other boats) Luckily I was far enough away from the boat I didn't get fried, but was quite startled. The lightning must have gone staight through the mast and down the dolphin striker to ground as noted by the divot in the sand under the dolphin striker. I did not notice any residual damage to the boat. I have also seen lightning hit a mast that was down on a trailered boat, again no damage. Both of these boats had all aluminun masts. What I've concluded is don't be anywhere near a boat when there is lightning around, and lightning doesn't always hit the tallest thing around. I'd leave my mast up, so it's ready to go when the weather is nice, and pray to the gods that if lightning does hit my boat, no one is around when it happens.