[Public-List] Lightning Ground

[John Birch]

There is nothing I hate more than being at sea in a lightning storm. Never 
gets easier.

In fact I find it gets harder - just how many lives does this cat have left 
?

That said, there is no consensus on whether to ground or not to ground. 
Lightning does its thing and when yer number's up, its up.

Having a diesel aboard Sunstone (A-37) what I now do when lightning comes is 
to strike all sail, send the crew below, put on my harness, turn on the 
autopilot, take a position fix and start the engine. If hit, a diesel will 
continue to run just fine. If its off, it may not start.

Below my good wife takes position fixes every 15 minutes and logs them.

If the VHF gets cooked, there's a chance the Cell Phone might work - and do 
load the bugging out bag, if you don't carry one loaded all the time.

I sit as far from any metal in the cockpit as possible and repeat - "this is 
my hobby and I do it for fun."

For those of a religious bent, I suggest a large thick volume of the King 
James Bible, and sit on it to further insulate yourself from a lightning 
strike.

For those who are agnostic, or Unitarians (which is about the same thing) a 
large copy of the Shorter Oxford Dictionary will serve the same function ; )

Just remember - "this is my hobby and I do it for fun."

With any luck, you'll be ok.

Safe sailing gang

John



----- Original Message ----- 
From: "David Gilbert" <bigkanu at rogers.com>
To: "Bill Boyle" <wpb1210 at yahoo.com>; "Alberg 30 Public List -- open to all" 
<public-list at lists.alberg30.org>
Sent: Friday, July 26, 2013 12:10 PM
Subject: Re: [Public-List] Lightning Ground


> More on lightening. I have heard of people bolting a copper plate to  the 
> keel and running a heavy wire to it overboard from the mast; but  many 
> feel all this would do is blow a huge hole in the keel so I'm  back to 
> reliance on the CN Tower and plain good luck.
> David
> On 26-Jul-13, at 11:42 AM, Bill Boyle wrote:
>
>> Anyone know if the mast is grounded to the keel?  If so, how?  If  not, 
>> does anyone have thoughts on how to do that?
>>
>> Bill Boyle
>> 129
>>
>>
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