GL: Lightning woe

[Al Rodriguez]

Wayne:

Seems to me that if the piling was somewhat hollow from old age and soaking wet from rain, (water conducts electricity albeit not as efficiently) and having been sunk and well grounded at the other end several feet below the bottom in the sand or mud, it could compete and present a better conductor for a discharge, than the relatively thin wire inside the mast on your boat even with lesser height.  In addition, combined with the direction of the storm, might explain this unusual fenomenum. 

Fair weather,

Al Rodriguez
Panga One, Fisherman
Fort Lauderdale









--- On Tue, 9/29/09, Albin43SDtr <Albin43SDtr at comcast.net> wrote:

> From: Albin43SDtr <Albin43SDtr at comcast.net>
> Subject: Re: GL: Lightning woe
> To: great-loop at lists.samurai.com
> Date: Tuesday, September 29, 2009, 12:16 PM
> 'Lo All,
> 
> While lightening generally follows some general rules, it
> is simply unpredictable.
> 
> Our old sailboat had a 55' aluminum mast, with a 00 copper
> cable running directly to a large ground plate on the hull
> exterior. It had the normal VHF antenna and wind instruments
> mounted on top of the mast. The boat was never hit with
> lightening (at least there was no damage to anything
> mechanical or electrical). However, during a particularly
> violent thunderstorm one evening, a 10' high piling ( aprox
> 12" in diameter), which was about 30' from the sailboat was
> struck and shattered lengthwise into several long pieces
> that looked like wooden fence posts.
> 
> 
> Take care and be safe.
> 
> Wayne
> Celestial
> Albin 43 Sundeck
> Near Panama City, FL
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