| Author | Message | ||
     Mark Young New member Username: Marksails Post Number: 1 Registered: 03-2002 Rating: N/A |
Eric, I have not been aboard during a thunderstorm since I bought my 9.1, but was in many thunderstorms in my previous boat. It had a grounding system that connected the mast to the keel bolts electrically. One day I watched St. Elmo's fire dance in the rigging of nearby boats, while mine had nothing happening. However, it was eventally hit during a very severe storm (so I was told) and all light bulbs were burned out, the stero was ruined, speakers were ruined, all flaws in the fibreglass exploded. No holes completely through. It is my opinion that damage is related to the severity of the lighting bolt, and if it is your time to go, the boat will have nothing to do with it. I do believe that all that grounding effort reduces the build-up of the charge and probably offers some protection from less powerful storms. I'm a lake sailor on a relatively small reservoir, so I'm not usually in a situation where I cannot return to the dock easily. We have experienced some storms that came up quickly and we have had to sail in them (or start the engine), but the wind speeds were more frightening than the lightening. On the lakes around Missouri and Kansas we can have winds well above 50 mph in the storms. Like others, we have canceled races for thunderstorms, but we have continued to race with storms in the area when we could tell that they were going to pass without hitting us. I'm probably foolish, but I'm only afraid of lightening when it is pretty intense with frequent strikes. I'd be interested in helping you sail your 9.1 sometime when I'm in the NW. Do you ever take crew from the middle of the country out sailing? |
