Power line mast strike

[Bill6878]

Has anyone experienced an electrical strike from an FP&L power line in Cocoa FL?
I recently did and was looking for information on contacting a lawyer to sue for damages. There are no markings or warnings about mast height safety in the anchorage with sailboats anchored on both sides of the power lines. My mast did not touch but my antennas might have. I have heard that the power from the high voltage lines can jump 10’ to a mast. All my electronics were fried, multiple fans, relays and wires burned up, mast and stays damaged and in need of repair. Quotes over $150,000 in repairs. Still waiting on insurance to reply to my claim.

[rslifkin]

Are the power lines shown on a chart with a listed vertical clearance?

[billknny]

Originally Posted by rslifkin

Are the power lines shown on a chart with a listed vertical clearance?

I suspect he is talking about the power cables that cross the Indian River just south of the Hwy 520 bridge.

They most certainly are shown on the chart, with an authorized minimum clearance of .... drum roll please.... 38 feet. I am thinking that a Leopard 43 has a mast a little bit higher than that. The lawsuit seems to have a bit of an uphill battle.

Sailboats on both sides of the cables means nothing... you can approach them from either side.

There is another power line which crosses the Indian River up by the A1A bridge, and it's authorized minimum outside the channel is 44 feet...

[Vasco]

Originally Posted by billknny

I suspect he is talking about the power cables that cross the Indian River just south of the Hwy 520 bridge.

They most certainly are shown on the chart, with an authorized minimum clearance of .... drum roll please.... 38 feet. I am thinking that a Leopard 43 has a mast a little bit higher than that. The lawsuit seems to have a bit of an uphill battle.

Sailboats on both sides of the cables means nothing... you can approach them from either side.

There is another power line which crosses the Indian River up by the A1A bridge, and it's authorized minimum outside the channel is 44 feet...

No. There are power cables in the ICW that go across the Indian River just south of the Cocoa Bridge. (Merritt Island Bridge M897). I've always assumed they were at least 65 feet. At least in the ICW channel but folks anchor between the bridge and power cables east and west of the ICW. I've never done this as there is plenty of room to anchor south of the power cables. Cannot guarantee height of power cables east and west of the channel. Also the area between the bridge and power cables is marked cable and pipeline area so inadvisable to anchor there.

[Bill6878]

Only at the bridge which is 87.5’
I just came under them there and went to anchor. No markings on the charts and no signs anywhere in the anchorage. My mast height is 63’, antennas around 64’

[Vasco]

Here's the chart. Ignore the red arrow, don't know why it's there.

[Vasco]

Originally Posted by Bill6878

Only at the bridge which is 87.5’
I just came under them there and went to anchor. No markings on the charts and no signs anywhere in the anchorage. My mast height is 63’, antennas around 64’

Did you try to anchor between the bridge and the power lines? If so you might be out of luck as far as the insurance goes. It's a cable and pipeline area.

[denverd0n]

Chart says that the power cable is 88' at the main channel. If you go under it anywhere but the main channel, then it is up to you to decide if you have clearance or not. NOAA certainly does not make any guarantees anywhere outside of the main channel.


So the question is, were you in the main channel when you truck the cable?


If so, you might have a case. If not... well, it wouldn't hurt to talk to an attorney anyway, but I doubt it will go anywhere.

[Dave Lochner]

There is a note on Active Captain about these lines:

Summary
Hazard

These high voltage power lines in the main channel are 88 feet high. Outside the channel they drop to 60 feet (drooping to even less at points).

Sailboats are known to have either hit the lines or had high voltage jump and cause damage. Consider this when crossing this area. Show Less

https://activecaptain.garmin.com/en-US/pois/64376

[Sailmonkey]

Originally Posted by Dave Lochner

There is a note on Active Captain about these lines:



Summary

Hazard



These high voltage power lines in the main channel are 88 feet high. Outside the channel they drop to 60 feet (drooping to even less at points).



Sailboats are known to have either hit the lines or had high voltage jump and cause damage. Consider this when crossing this area. Show Less



https://activecaptain.garmin.com/en-US/pois/64376

Seems to me the OP is SOL.

[Montanan]

From article titled Power Line Safety in Seaworthy, the damage avoidance newsletter. Keyword avoidance.

http://https://www.boatus.com/seawor...ne-hazards.asp

Earlier this year, we wrote about lightning (see Striking Lightning Facts, January 2015), your odds of being struck and what kind of damage an errant lightning strike can do. But there's another source of lethal electricity that can destroy a boat and cause serious injuries and even death — power lines. Last year, a 43-foot sailboat hit a power line in Florida after leaving the Intracoastal Waterway, and the boat caught fire. Fortunately, no one was injured.

High-voltage power lines can carry hundreds of thousands of volts across rivers and bays, and there are plenty of them on the ICW. Power lines that cross navigable waterways are marked on charts with their clearance listed as the height of Mean High Water (MHW), which is an average of several years of high tides. If the power lines are near a bridge, their lowest clearances are required to be higher than the bridge. But the clearances are accurate only in the marked channels — outside of that, the lines may be much lower. Be certain of your mast height (also called air draft) and the power line clearance before you go under them. Don't forget to add the height of your mast-mounted VHF antenna — usually an additional 36 inches. Keep in mind that if you have safely gone under a power line in the past, it's no guarantee that it's still safe; the water level may rise from tides, flooding or controlled damming, or the line may expand and sag from heat. Also, look out for downed or sagging lines following storms or high winds. Keep in mind that if the tip of the mast or antenna should come close to high voltage lines, the electrical current may be strong enough to bridge the gap and flow to the boat.

According to the U.S. Coast Guard, should your boat come in contact with a power line, don't jump into the water. The electrical charge may pass through your boat and electrify the surrounding water. And you will likely die due to electrocution and drowning. The safest approach is to stay in the boat and avoid touching anything metal. Leave the boat only after it has moved away from the line.

Do not that if an award is allowed there is a strong likelihood that the award would be apportioned as to responsibility between the owner and the power company [and the boat manufacturer if it was determined that an aluminum mast was an inherent danger for power line strikes which designed use could have been mitigated, a Big If, but one that was accorded against Hobie and Hobie's parent companies Coast and Coleman due to a mast power line strike]. In the alternative, it sounds like no damage was derived to the power line and the power grid, if there were damages to the power line, the grid or the end use customers of the grid due to a mast strike, the boat owner could be held responsible for such electrical shorting and associated damages. It also sounds like no environmental damage arose, such as if the boat had caught fire and sunk and fuel had discharged and fouled the waterway.


If the power line was lower than it was supposed to be, [how the "proper" height is determined I am not certain, perhaps established by a construction permit or a zoning ordinance] then there is a possibility for claims to be made against the power company. An example, thereof from Claims Joural:

https://www.claimsjournal.com/news/e...1/19/95651.htm


A Maine man has been awarded nearly $5 million in damages for injuries he sustained six years ago in an electrical accident at a Penobscot boatyard.

Bryan Smith, now 24 and formerly from Bucksport, was operating a crane to move a sailboat when the mast hit a high-voltage power line.

Superior Court Justice Michaela Murphy found that Central Maine Power caused the accident because the power line was more than 15 feet closer to the ground than it should have been. The judge awarded Smith $3 million in damages for loss of enjoyment of life, pain and suffering, more than $1 million in lost earnings, and $783,000 for past and future medical and rehabilitation expenses.

A spokeswoman for CMP declined to comment on the decision.


And as to the cartographers potential liability, they are protected from legal liability by the disclaimers boaters must acknowledge every time they power up a chartplotter or activate PC navigational software or nav apps for tablets and smartphones.



Danger lurking from above
Date Posted: 2015-04-08
Source: WG Staff,Cruising Contributor,WFTV

https://www.waterwayguide.com/latest...ing-from-above

Electricity and water don't mix – we've all heard that adage. Lightning, faulty shore power, stray current in the water, and overhead power lines are all scary concerns to the cruising boater.

Overhead power lines claim many sailboats each year, but should be easy to avoid – if they are marked on the chart. And we know how high they are – the "authorized clearance" is noted right there, correct?

Power cables should be at least as high as the stated authorized clearance, but often the height at the channel is different than the rest of the line, and the notations can be confusing.

And, your boat can get zapped without even contacting the lines! (I'll get to that later.)

One of the trouble spots is the Indian Cove anchorage at Cocoa, Florida. The authorized clearance at the ICW channel (mile 897.5) is 88 feet, but the rest of the span across Indian River states a minimum 38 foot clearance. The lines seem to graduate up a bit, too – it's nearly impossible to judge the height of power lines by sight. These particular high-voltage lines run across open water along a popular anchorage, adding an additional hazard for boats dragging anchor.

Several boats have been claimed by this power line and similar ones in the area, one just a couple weeks ago. Luckily, the couple and pets on board were rescued without serious injury. The 4330-foot sailboat burned to the waterline. (See WFTV report: 2 boaters, 2 pets rescued from burning boat in Indian River.

(See related Nav Alert for the power line at the Indian Cove Anchorage)
CAUTION: Low power lines
Date Reported: Jan 1, 2018
Reporter: Waterway Guide Staff
Source: Waterway Guide Staff
Description:
There has been the loss of two proper cruising yachts over the past few years due to the high voltage overhead cables that cross the Cocoa Yacht Basin located just south of the Merritt Island Bridge at Cocoa FL. While the cables are high at the ICW (charted at 88 feet), they progressively descend towards shore and vertical clearance is substantially reduced (charted at 38 feet). This is deceptive, and poses a serious risk for vessels operating near them not just from physical contact, but open-air arcing from the power lines to a mast (Some sources recommend a minimum mast-to-wire distance of 12 feet.) Hence a maximum mast height would be 26 feet, calculated as a 38 ft. mast minus 12 feet air gap clearance.
Lat / Lon: N 28° 21.191' / W 080° 43.068'


Did you know your boat can get zapped without even contacting the wires? How close is too close? The electric companies don't want to say, because so many factors come into play for electricity to arc through an "air gap" to your mast – voltage of the line, grounding of the mast to the water, humidity, etc....

But not all overhead cables are equal. Power transmission lines are not enclosed by electrical insulating material and have "spreaders" using a number of insulating discs at each power pole. Overhead lines that are covered in insulation material and/or are connected directly to poles are most likely low voltage telephone or cable TV lines.

So, how close is too close? The spreaders on the power towers can give you a hint – big spreaders and lots of disc insulators, big voltage. You best clear the wires by at least the distance the lines are from each other. But figuring out those distances? Good luck.

A 70+ foor sailing yacht was severely damaged by an "arcing" incident last year on the New River in Fort Lauderdale according to the vessel's captain, as reported by The Triton:

...“I was looking aloft at a set of overhead high power lines we were about to pass under. I knew we had plenty of clearance, as this vessel had been under these wires many times before, and yachts with even taller rigs navigate this river on a regular basis.

“Suddenly, a white fireball flashed around the upper two thirds of the mast followed by a massive explosion. It was so loud I thought there had been a bombing in the condos at the river’s edge and I instinctively spun around, bracing for impact.

“Instead of a building crashing down upon us, I observed a brilliant blue orb surrounding the boat, and then contacting and dissipating into the river astern of us...

The “Standard of Care” for power companies in different states
The standard of care and safety an electric company owes to people slightly varies by jurisdiction. Generally, companies must use reasonable or ordinary care in the construction and maintenance of their lines. Some jurisdictions, like in New Hampshire and New York, express this standard as using reasonable care and diligence.

Other jurisdictions impose a much higher standard of care. For instance, the state of North Carolina has held that while still not an insurer, an electrical company’s care owed “is something more, under the law, as the court understands it, than ordinary care; it is the highest care,” according to McAllister v Pryor. This is because “electricity is not only dangerous, even deadly, but it is invisible, noiseless, and odorless, rendering it impossible to detect the presence of the peril until the fatal work is finished,” according to Connecticut v. Lexington Utilities Company.

The Federal 8th Circuit (Arkansas, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota) has also applied this high care standard. Courts in these jurisdictions are concerned with how dangerous electrical lines can be, so they feel as though “a company owes to its patrons the duty to protect them from injury by exercising the highest skill, most consummate care and caution, and the utmost diligence and foresight in the construction, maintenance and inspection,” according to McAllister.

Many jurisdictions seem to fall in between these two ends, but more toward a higher standard of care. Whether it is a high standard of care (Utah ), very high (West Virginia ), the highest (Federal 8th Circuit, North Carolina , Pennsylvania), or the utmost degree of care (Kentucky, Louisiana, Washington ), any time there’s a live wire with electricity, most jurisdictions seem to apply a standard of care that’s above “reasonable care” in that situation.

As to bridges: An article titled Bridge Heights on the ICW from Soundings Online.

https://www.soundingsonline.com/news...hts-on-the-icw

Many fixed bridges have signs posted giving clearance in feet. Most of these signs state “at center.” Some bridges with arched spans post the vertical height measured at the outside end of the navigation spans; the height at dead center may be a little more. These signs usually state “minimum clearance.” But the bridge’s center light, hanging down from the middle of the span, will subtract from the vertical clearance if you are unlucky (or careless) enough to hit it. Also, sometimes high winds or construction will result in wires or lines hanging down. Always be observant.

Remember that circumstances can change because of such factors as water level, construction, wind damage and deterioration. In fact, we’ve heard of boats being damaged when they had just enough room to go under but were momentarily raised by the wake from another boat. Never take chances with vertical clearance. The consequences of a mistake can be lethal.

Bridges that open have considerably less vertical clearance, some only 1 or 2 feet. These also often have tide boards. While bridge tenders sometimes will tell you the clearance with the present tide, normally they won’t, assumedly because of the potential liabilities involved.

Keep in mind that if you request an opening that you don’t need or could avoid by lowering your antennas and outriggers, you can be fined. This is occurring regularly in some areas. You should know the height of your vessel above its waterline. The captain has the ultimate responsibility of deciding what’s safe and prudent for his or her boat.

[boat driver]

Originally Posted by Sailmonkey

Seems to me the OP is SOL.

SOL
The lines have an authorized clearance at the navigation channel.
Since they move with heat/power load the actual height is not reported.
The authorized clearance indicates that airdraft less than that number (inconsideration MHHW) one is safe.

Worse, if the mast actually contacted the wires the vessel may be liable for wire damage.
As as far as the Cable and Pipeline area, again, that issue is underwater and again only pertains if you damage the cable/pipeline anchoring or dragging.
It does not prohibit your anchoring, but it does say you are going to be liable.

Contact your insurance company, get it fixed, and move on. Be glad it was not worse.

[Dave22q]

Instead of wasting money on lawyers you might carry marine insurance. I did something stupid some years ago- fishing while anchored near a line not thinking about the tide change but insurance covered my fried radio and antenna. Was fairly unpopular for shutting the town down for half hour but marine patrol went easy on me.
as others have noted you really need to study the charts in unfamiliar areas.

[Montanan]

Originally Posted by Bill6878

Has anyone experienced an electrical strike from an FP&L power line in Cocoa FL?
I recently did and was looking for information on contacting a lawyer to sue for damages. There are no markings or warnings about mast height safety in the anchorage with sailboats anchored on both sides of the power lines. My mast did not touch but my antennas might have. I have heard that the power from the high voltage lines can jump 10’ to a mast. All my electronics were fried, multiple fans, relays and wires burned up, mast and stays damaged and in need of repair. Quotes over $150,000 in repairs. Still waiting on insurance to reply to my claim.

A Leopard 43 catamaran has a top of mast height of 63 feet. Add a 12 foot air gap minimum and your conductor rod is 75 feet up.

What the heck were you doing anywhere near a power line with that tall of a pole. Be observant, LOOK UP, & STAY FAR, FAR AWAY, from high voltage power lines. As a skipper one must realize that your vessel is a moving, tall clearance, low resistance conductor. If you bring your conductor rod near, within the air gap, [or in contact] to a high voltage power source, in essence you have invoked an allision of your causation. To be clear, the power line did not move, it was not underway, instead you navigated your vessel into an allision with the fixed power line. IMHO, this allision was likely your sole responsibility, own up to your error. Fortunately no one was injured or killed, count your graces in that fact, and also that the damage was limited to just your vessel and that the damage was comparatively minor involving non-structural components.

[s/v michaela]

I worked for the Edison company as a lineman/troubleman for many years....If a line is there and is NOT lower that an established line to ground clearance... then it is YOU who have encroached on the line.... not visa versa. If damage to the line is incurred by your encroachment then YOU will be liable for damages to the line and involved equipment. Each voltage had a minimum phase to ground and phase to phase approach distance. If you break that distance depending on (temp and humidity) a resulting arc MAY occur. IF you accidentally locked out the circuit causing a loss of electrical power YOU can be liable to all those affected. Be careful when trying to sue a power company.... they have much deeper pockets than you do. You may have gotten away unknown and they weren't the wiser as to who caused the relay and reclose... BUT.. if you go and tell them it's their fault you are opening a hornets nest on yourself....