Casting off into the rain?

[Bob23]

   The cones of protection might have been protecting me, but I was scarred poopless!!!!
   A few years ago, my friends Morgan 30 was struck while at  her mooring. she went down in about 6 feet of water, was hauled early the next morning before the feds could show up and accuse him of diesel spill, which  did not happen. When she was hauled, there were 2 perfectly round 3/8" holes directly opposite each other below the waterline. The pumps kept up until the batteries ran down.
   My freind Dennis has restored her perfectly and she is better than ever. I guess the best one can do is install a bonding plate and a designated cable from the mast, each stay and shroud and stanchions and hope for the best.
   My father in law, a master of improv, would keep a pair of jumper cables aboard. During a lightning threat, he'd clamp one end of each cable to the mast and throw the other end into the water. I guess it was better than nothing.
bob23

[skip1930]

A good pair of automotive Jumper cables aboard and clamped onto a chainplate and over the side was one possible solution to lightening...this was talked about in Bob Burgess's Handbook of Trailer Sailing.

One of our USPS club members had his 34 foot sailboat, on the hard with the mast up was struck by lightning. About a million tiny little cracks in the fiberglass and two blown out holes out the bottom hull going to ground

skip.

[Shawn]

"My freind Dennis has restored her perfectly and she is better than ever. I guess the best one can do is install a bonding plate and a designated cable from the mast, each stay and shroud and stanchions and hope for the best."

I'd think clamped to the mast is far better than going to a shroud. If you clamped to the shroud it should be the 'path of least resistance' but only until the amperage fries it then it is going somewhere else and your mast may be on its way down. Even if the shroud didn't burn up that much current is going to heat it which is going to make the resistance in the shroud jump up so that the current may seek alternate routes. Remember too that electricity does not just follow a single 'path of least resistance' but can and will branch out taking multiple paths.... the resistance in each path determines how much current will flow in each path. This is why lightning has forks and splits in it.

Shawn

[Bob23]

I have a great book entitled: "Sailboat Electrics Simplified". It has a great section on lightning protection and is a really great little book to have in one's boating book library.
bob23

[sailen69]

Not all the good sailing days are clear blue skies.  I found an older photo from a trip to a lake close by.  Note the wet pavement, empty parking lot, tree tops bending, clouds roiling by, and the flag on the end of my mast.



I would say that you can have a good time sailing when conditions are less than ideal, or at least I do.  I like that phrase "It is better to be on shore wishing you were out there, than out there wishing you were on shore."  That always goes through my mind when casting off in less than ideal conditions.  I have pulled my boat all the way to the lake, closely watched the actual conditions, and headed back to the house a few times.  I aim to stay within my limits to have a safe trip.  I prefer to single hand sail my small boat on those kinds of days because I know what I think is fun, exciting, and challenging, may not be for other guest.  I would certainly like to have someone along if they were comfortable with that kind of experience.

The lightning and sail boat topic is something I would like to learn more about.  I have read in some boat owners manuals that mention lightning.  I think that at least some manufactures simply look at lightning protection systems as an owner's aftermarket responsibility, or option.  I think mostly because of the liabilities.  No guarantees with Mother Nature for one.  A safety system must be properly installed, maintained, inspected, and maybe even certified.  Certainly there are different ideas, conditions, and applications.  None of the boats I sail or have seen where I live have any kind of lightning protection system.  Maybe Lightning Protection needs its' own topic?   Thanks Bob23 for posting a reference.   I am curious what you other sailors have seen, experienced, or done to your boats for lightning protection.
Rich

[Bob23]

   Maybe the publisher will let me post the chapter on lightning protection here at the site. I don't know if it's copyright infringement and I'd rather not find out.
   The recent Good Old Boat magazine had an article about his LED bulbs blowing out as a result of a nearby lightning event. Note, it did not hit his boat but due to an electrical surge which is inherent in lightning, some of the LED's did not survice. Makes one think twice about LED's. I'm gonna get 'em anyway.
   Rich: Ain't it true that conditions are rarely excellent? That's what makes is so great...we have to deal with what we're given instead of just dialing in "perfect".
The boat looks great! 
   Bob23
       

[skip1930]

Best sailing is 'tween two storms while things are still stirred up.

I've seen 40+ mile an hour winds that shredded the UV strip off the head sail and pulled both head sheets clean past the stopper knots and had them dangling and twisting and knotting out front of the bow sprit. What a mess. I guess I should have bare poled it a tad sooner. Had the main sheet totally relaxed with boom and sail plastered against the starboard stay and the rudder pulled into the wind only to be held a beam of the wind at 6 knots on the GPS chartplotter. But not healed over too much.

Hail stones that left welts on my neck and arms that forced my CP-19 backwards while heading into the worst wind yet with my 5hp O/B at half throttle just to maintain steerage with all sails rolled in. Could not see past the bow of the boat and watched Green Island come dangerously close on the chartplotter. Saw a double rainbow in full sun ten minutes later. But the boat was covered with frozen balls of ice. And I looked like Dolly Parton after my auto inflat-or popped off. Must have driven the rain into the PFD.

Luckily both storms were of short duration.

skip.

[tholepin]

Sailing in controlled conditions other than ideal is a great learning experience.   "Been there, done that," are comforting thoughts in stressful times.  Rain and a bit of wind coupled with glasses make for blurry seeing, especially low to the water - CP-16 - and I carry ski-goggles that fit over my specs.  Non-fogging and comfortable. 

Lightning is bad.  In many years on the water I've experienced two near misses and a neighboring catboat hit nearby.  The owner was in my cabin drinking coffee.  I called him over before the storm threw him around in his little inflatable dinghy.  Damage was heavy.  Handheld electronics in a metal box were toasted and most of the woodwork charred.  Mast ruined and fiberglass hull looked like tempered glass.  Neither of us are profane men but we spoke plainly after viewing his once Bristol-fashion Marshall Cat.

I still hang out jumper cables - but place my hope in Chance.