Sudden squalls are a common hazard for boaters. Lightning-producing thunderstorms can occur at any time, but are most likely from July through mid-September. Storms can trap boaters on the water too far from shore to seek safe shelter, placing them at risk of being struck by lightning.
Every year, an average of 58 people die in the U.S. from lightning strikes and another 300 to 500 are injured, according to the National Weather Service website. Lightning poses a serious risk to boaters. Usually the tallest object on an open body of water, boats are apt to attract lightning during a storm. Tall-masted sailboats are particularly vulnerable. A direct lightning strike can severely damage or destroy a boat, cause serious onboard fires, overload electronic and navigation equipment, and injure, even kill, passengers.
To stay safe while boating, remember the slogan: “If you can see it, flee it; if you can hear it, clear it.” At the first sign of a developing thunderstorm, boaters should head for shore and seek shelter in a building or car. Lightning can travel up to 10 miles from storm centers. A blue sky overhead is no guarantee that danger isn’t lurking. Many lightning deaths occur ahead of storm systems before rain reaches the area.
Follow the 30-30 rule to decrease your risk of being struck by lightening:
- When you see a flash of lightening, start counting until you hear thunder. If the count is 30 seconds or less, lightning is close enough to strike.
- Wait 30 minutes after the last lightning flash before leaving shelter to be certain the danger is gone. Half of all lightning deaths occur after a storm passes.
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Tags: Boat Safety
This can’t be the whole story. Spending a night on a small sailboat with a 30′ aluminum mast in the midst of an extremely intense lightning and storm system for hours just waiting for the inevitable to happen on Truman lake in MO. Never got hit that I’m aware of. I had a 10 ga. copper wire from the mast step to the keel bolt (fixed keel). True their were higher hills around but we were exposed out on the water. I think that a properly grounded boat may help discharge the potential of a direct hit.
“Every year, thousands of boaters are struck by lightning.”
This statistic does not correlate very well with the NOAA statistic that in the entire United States there are only an average of 340 injuries from lightning reported.
Compare at:
http://www.lightningsafety.noaa.gov/medical.htm
As an ASA sailing instructor we teach sailboaters at anchor When lightening is near to pull their excess chain from the chain locker and wrap it around the mast. The idea being that it will direct a lot of the strike into the sea bed. Another thing I have heard is to put your hand held electronics into the oven. It acts as a Faraday cage.
I want to thank you for the article. Neither my husband nor I had heard of the 30-30 rule. Great information, we should all stay off the water when storms are near. If there is the slightest chance of danger, we should seek cover. No one wants to be struck by lightning or to put their family in harms way. Hind sight will not save your life, fore sight will. I think your article is great advice and we all should follow it. It doesn’t matter how many have been stuck by lightning. The bottom line is, if there is one chance that you could be struck and killed by lightning, you shouldn’t take the chance….Thanks again….I am not into lightning or fire…I am into safety first…..Penelope
Thanks for the tips, but they mostly amount to “avoid lightning.” If you can’t avoid it, and you’re stuck out on the water during a lightning storm, what can you do to improve your chances?
One cannot avoid lightning storms if they are going to make full use of their boat. Off the Coast of the US there are thunder storms almost every day. If you are 50 miles from land, you cannot out run these storms. You are at just as much of a risk at anchor. We had a Cal 46 which had “ideal” lightning protection–that is one of the fuzzies on a contuctor above the VHF antenna, a path down a thick aluminum mast, to 3/4″ copper tubing, about 18′ to a sq foot plate of copper just under the mast step. After we sold the boat it was hit by lightning 3 times. Once was a lobe thru the water, the other two were direct strikes to the mast. Each time there was extensive damage. So much for the “cone of protection”.
We had another boat, which had wooden masts, but we always put chains from the shroud chain plates into the water–and the bob stay fitting was under water–when there was lightning around. We were in one storm, where there were over 60 strikes within several miles in an hour. We had St. Elmo’s fire in the rigging–but no direct strike.
I have had several “nips” from lightning. In one case we were on the flying bridge of a friends trawler, underway–and we had suggested that because of conditions we should get below. Instead the skipper came up close behind a sailboat (also under way–a maneuver which I did not approve of)–thinking that the mast of the sailboat would give protection. There was a lightning strike to that sailboat’s mast–and a lobe came to the bimini top of the trawler–a small spark jumped to my arm–and to my wife’s arm. Needless to say–the skipper then agreed that we best all be below.
You need to disconnect all electronics–including grounds. Agree that there should be a GPS and hand held radio in a metal box–we choose a sealed ammo container. The crew should be away from any metal objects, away from the windows or portlights. There should be some protection from the metal of the vessel–and I do advocate putting direct path from rigging to the water.
Forespar sells a product called a “Lightning Master” which works for both power and sail boats. It is a stainless steel brush on a rod which dissipates ions away from the boat. It is very popular and can be purchased on line or in any major boat retail store. Well worth the money for the confidence that lightning will not strike. Remember most electronics are knocked out because the lightning struck the boat near you on the dock, not your boat.
Lightning fried my depth sounder, every bulb in my navigation lights and kicked half of my breakers out of the box and on to the deck. The boat was on a mooring where it’s always kept.
It’s bad luck, and I don’t think there’s a thing I can do to prevent it from happening again.
I have a steel hull power
Am I a Faraday cage? Or a lightening magnet?
Adam