I'm still looking for any personal experiences or incidents that people know of concerning beach cats being hit by lightning while on the water. I do recall one incident in the Worrell 1000, but I cannot remember which boat and which year and whether it was a direct hit. I do know it partially incapacitated the crew for a while.

Does anybody remember the infamous John Barnett? He told me that when he was working race committee and was on a chase boat, if there was lightning in the area, he would always snug his powerboat up alongside one of the sailboats so he would be inside the "cone of protection" -- supposedly, a stayed mast tends to deflect a lightning strike so it bounces off and hits the water several feet away from the boat.