posted 07-26-2003 06:27 PM ET (US)        

Yesterday I was fishing out about seven miles on a warmish, sticky, foggy day here in northern California when a dull boom woke me out of my boredom (salmon were not biting). The VHF crackled, and another thunder roll, closer this time; couldn't see any lightning...yet. The late morning sky darkened dramatically. Chatter on the radio from boats to the south -- a thunderstorm was moving swiftly up the coast from Pt Reyes, with wind shifts and brief heavy rainfall. Then I could see the lightning flashes, many of them sometimes only twenty seconds apart with thunder following louder and more immediately after each bolt, and a burnt ozone smell in the now-breathless air.

So what to do on little 16/17 surrounded by stainless steel rails higher than my Katama's console, with 3 fishing rods pointing straight up, an 8 ft Shakespeare antenna, and a 5 ft aluminum net, also pointing toward the now-electric sky? Summer thunderstorms are rare in this neck of the woods, and I hadn't anticipated dealing with any; hadn't researched the ability of a small BW to withstand a bolt, or made any contingency plans at all.

I turned off the VHF and lowered the antenna, pulled the rods and net out of their holders and laid them on the deck, turned off my fishfinder and GPS (for no good reason except superstition, I think), and juiced for the harbor. The wind picked up a little, and the seas became more confused, but nothing like a serious line squall. Except for getting a good soaking, there's really nothing more to tell. There were a lot of boats out fishing yesterday, and most of them just ignored the little storm and kept fishing...

What would you have done, guys and gals, and why?

posted 07-26-2003 07:39 PM ET (US)            

I check weather, file a float plan, watch the sky and go WOT if a water spout sneaks up.

posted 07-26-2003 09:08 PM ET (US)            

The strange part is, that the fish started biting like crazy.... The first two days fishing in really hot weather had turned the trout off... I have had storms like this happen before on this particular lake and when the thunder and lightning comes in, the bite is ON.... One large trout after another until the storm was getting TOO close.... I headed for shore... I think it is better to be save then sorry....

I waited for the storm to pass, about 20 to 30 minutes, and then went back out and caught several more trout...

Same thing happened the next morning only the storm skirted the lake so we stayed out fishing.... Even the wife thought the fishing was great and as long as the storm didn't come any closer, we fished...

posted 07-26-2003 09:22 PM ET (US)            

Everyone on the boat was fine - including me who was holding onto the stainless wheel, connected by stainless cables to the rudderpost where it was determined a major amount of the charge left the boat. I don't understand the physics, but there is a "cone of protection" on a sailboat with metal masts/rigging aslong as they are grounded.

The vhf was off at the time we were hit, but it was toasted anyway - the antenna took the main strike - it ended up about 2 feet shorter, and all the copper in the caox was vaporized.

The engine electronics were all shot - there was a halon fire system in the engine compartment that went off from the voltage spike, so first we had to vent the halon. After that we were able to start the engine (a diesel) by shorting across the starter solenoid with a screwdriver.

We also blew the hose off of a seacock - part of the bolt coming down one of the stays jumped to the water-filled hose as its path to ground and boiled the water in the hose which burst it. The bronze ball-valve in the 2" seacock was fused open - luckily we had a tapered wood plug of the appropriate size tied to the seacock that we could pound it - still kind of fun trying to cut/pull the ends of the blown hose off the end of the seacock while cold water was coming in. (bilge pump was dead too).

We didn't konow what else was wrong, so we hightailed it for the boatyeard and put he boat in the slings of the travellift.

We found out later that there were significant burns in the fiberglass that had to be ground out and repared.

So with that, I get the hell off the water when I see a thinderstorm that is going to hit me. Either that or run purpendicular to the line of advance and try to get away from it.

posted 07-26-2003 11:32 PM ET (US)            

I've done a little sailing myself over the past 45 years or so, and can tell from your story that your parents were/are the real thing. Details like the immediately available tapered wooden plug for the seacock, and the description of how you folks got the engine going add greatly to your tale, and demonstrate your parents' (and probably your) competence at sea.

I never worried too much about lightning on my sailboats, and, amazingly, never had any real close calls. But yesterday's little thrill on my Katama sure had me thinking, and wondering if there is any preparation or avoidance techniques I'm missing for dealing with this stuff in a small motorcraft, other than getting the hell out...

posted 07-27-2003 12:00 PM ET (US)            

Good story and I learned something new...the 30/30 Rule.

posted 07-27-2003 01:31 PM ET (US)            

Thanks for the heads up.

I learned something today reading about the 30-30 rule and it makes good sense.

I might have never seen it in the paper because we were out joy riding in the old Sakonnet this morning and I probably won't even look at the Times.

I have noticed that we often get bolts out of a clear sky long before the storm clouds arrive.

posted 07-27-2003 04:04 PM ET (US)            

Sorta wish I hadn't read that story, especially about the "30/30 Rule." At the height of the little storm I was in a couple of days ago, it was flash!/bang! with maybe a second or two between the two events. I've always felt that there was no immediate danger of a strike when there was more than five or ten seconds between the lightning and the thunder...guess I was very wrong, if that story is to be believed. Stay safe, folks.

posted 07-28-2003 12:31 PM ET (US)            

Since then I too have wondered what to do on an ungrounded boat. Sailing Hobie Cats and being caught in a thunderstorm, I've flipped them upside down and ridden out the storm, but a Boston Whaler is another story. Guess The Chesapeake Explorer's idea is best, but I can tell you for sure, the charge just might come down that 100' rope.

In many areas, late afternoon thunderstorms are a part of every marine forecast and are sometimes almost impossible to outrun or manuver around. Guess you just have to be lucky.

regards---knothead

posted 07-28-2003 10:19 PM ET (US)         

when we got hot, the lighning found its own routes. Like through one of the hoses in the head, out the rudderpost and out through the fiberglass.

I think to be effective, you would need a bigger ground than the clamp of a pair of jumper cables in the water.

Maybe a 2x2 foot piece of sheet metal - remember the grounds for SSB radios on boats are many square feet of copper under water.