Lightning Strikes

[Dirk Williams]

Does anybody use a device I know as a " static wick" on their masts? basically a discharge port for electricity?

Use to,work well on P3e's, never cooked the gear or the madd boom gear. We're attached outboard, on trailing edges.

DW

[Suijin]

Originally Posted by Steady Hand

Zzzzzzzzzap! KaBOOOOM!

I'm shocked the whole boat is not glowing lol.

[sartorst]

Just so you know that lightning will dispel anything you think you know about electricity
I saw a car that was struck driving on an interstate at 70mph. There was a melted glob of glass in the windshield with lightning like patterns radiating out from the point of the strike and the paint was burned off he trunk with melted metal at the exit point. All electronics were dead

[wyb2]

Originally Posted by sartorst

Just so you know that lightning will dispel anything you think you know about electricity
I saw a car that was struck driving on an interstate at 70mph. There was a melted glob of glass in the windshield with lightning like patterns radiating out from the point of the strike and the paint was burned off he trunk with melted metal at the exit point. All electronics were dead

Yeah lightning behaves differently than how we think about electricity, and isn't completely understood from everything I've read.

There is some great footage in this video of the "leaders" leading up to a strike that most people don't know exist.

https://youtu.be/3D0BRSJ5nIs?t=14m9s

Keep watching to about 15:45 for the best slow motion shots.

I can't find it now, but there is another great video somewhere of a trio of radio tower getting struck multiple times. One of the strikes hits a tower quite a ways down the tower, probably 100' or more. If you were to think of the "path of least resistance" that makes no sense at all.

[Terrapin]

Originally Posted by Eggbah

Has a boat been struck by lightning while I was on it? Nope.

Have I been struck? Yes. You will not feel any pressure at first. It will feel like you stuck your finger in an outlet for a bit - not a regular household one, an appliance one. The ringing in the ears and the pressure in your head afterwards are not exactly pleasant. The zingers afterwards is what really gets you. The best way I can describe it is like having knives shoot out of your body on the side the current entered. The current entered my body through my right hand (FYI - do not open a metal storm door during a thunderstorm!) and that night it felt like my right foot was going to fly off. Very painful!

If you're struck, you may forget who you are, where you're at, or you may lose consciousness. I didn't lose consciousness, but I barely remember the first couple days after the strike and everything was off. I couldn't write or type. I would forget how to do basic things. I was somewhat back to 80% in a few months. Still not 100% and the ringing can stir up one heck of a migraine.

The sharp shooting headaches are downright brutal and the cold rushes on the right side of my skull scare the mess out of me. All tests came back normal though. Lightning can do a number on you if it doesn't kill you. Stay safe out there!!

I've been struck, too -- I remember a purple glow all around, a feeling of impending doom and the feeling of my hair standing straight up. And the flying -- I kind of remember the flying. What I remember most is waking up (fortunately face-up) in a water-filled depression and seeing the lone tree within sight -- the one under which I had foolishly decided to shelter from the rain -- split right down the middle and smoking. Perhaps I was fortunate in that the tree took the direct hit and I was just collateral damage.

I had headaches for weeks and a healthy fear of lightning forever after.

My mother has always been afraid of lightning and insisted that no one in the family sit near a window or talk on the phone during a storm. Dad and kids never took her seriously. Back in the days of dial-up internet, Dad was surfing the internet during a thunderstorm when, to hear my mother tell it, "a ball of lightning came through the phone line and knocked your father across the room." The plastic computer was melted to the wooden desk and the phone line (rural area) was out of commission for a period of a couple of weeks. Dad claimed he'd learned his lesson and would never pooh-pooh Mother again. Two years later, Dad was surfing the internet during a thunderstorm and was once again struck by lightning, flung across the room and his computer and phone line fried. That time, the lesson stuck.

[zeehag]

i was near hit at age 3.5 yrs. whooot no i donot do lightning anymore--even less than a foot away, and denver ball lightning phenomenon--my memory dissipated and i only remember the ball dancing at me and then finally the rescue--from a sandbox wherein i was under all the sand. i have cat-like reflexes it seems-- in danger--under sand... NEVER stand under a tree for alleged shelter from lightning--hahahahaha tree will sustain hit and you are as described by others ^^^^--watched a lightning bolt hit a tree on roadside i was driving--wholly crappe---my feets came up from the vw bus pedals--i could see under car, as floors were absent in this model--something about age of car vs options offered--coulda been the hole was option for 1960 vw bus in 1970----hahaha
tree smoldered in rain-- was newly cracked and i kept driving with feet up--one tippy toed on gas pedal other in air..hahahahah didnt want stray lightning finding me. tree was on side of lindberg blvd i was driving....
sailing in gom in seidelmann 37 and ohmy all around--i chalk up not being struck by thinking a moving target is harder for even the gods to hit..... wooohooooo
seen boats be hit in marinas...not the place to be in a lightning storm. the catamaran glowed green as it was hit--most spectacular. kinda pretty. i did not see the results of this hit from interior. sorry. boat did not sink. only sunk one was beneteau 52 hit in louisiana second time..same place.

[Triumphant]

Rather than start another thread I have a question.

Planes, helicopters and large ships get lighting strikes quite often and seem to survive them much better than we do in pleasure boats?

Why, could it be they often use floating ground systems or are there other reasons?

[wyb2]

Originally Posted by Triumphant

Rather than start another thread I have a question.

Planes, helicopters and large ships get lighting strikes quite often and seem to survive them much better than we do in pleasure boats?

Why, could it be they often use floating ground systems or are there other reasons?

Well I would think for starters they are all made of metal. I would guess aluminum and steel pleasure boats would fare quite a bit better than fiberglass ones.

Steel towers and buildings get hit often (skyscrapers are often hit multiple times per storm, let alone per year), with rarely any damage to the structure or electronics. Lots of metal, fully insulated from the electronics contained within. In the case of skyscrapers, I'm sure massive grounding systems don't hurt

[UNCIVILIZED]

Originally Posted by Triumphant

Rather than start another thread I have a question.

Planes, helicopters and large ships get lighting strikes quite often and seem to survive them much better than we do in pleasure boats?

Why, could it be they often use floating ground systems or are there other reasons?

The vast majority of parts & systems on aircraft get tested for their resistance to surviving electrical strikes. Having been designed to take such hits sans damage. And in fact it's pretty common for planes to get hit by lightning. You've probably been on a few when it happened.

Keep in mind too that aircraft generate huge amounts of static electricity due to their motion through the air. And that rotors & props produce a huge amount of it as well. Enough so that you need to let the rescue line from a helo ground itself first, & discharge prior to going anywhere near it. Otherwise, if it touches you first, the electrical energy in it could send you to the next world.

Think about how much electrical energy you can build up by rubbing your slippered feet across a carpet in the winter time. Or by just rubbing a balloon on your hair half a dozen times. It's more or less the same as how a helo's rotors create an electrical charge in the aircraft.

[Dirk Williams]

So after my question, and zero response, I did some research. I picked up 12 bolt on F-16 static wicks. The very ones used on the F-16 AC. Eventually I'll secure six on one side of the mast and six on the other side of the mast, pointed down and back.

Some of the sail mags, have recent articles on this lightening strike issues, are suggesting that the discharge ports " wicks" just might be the ticket.,,

Dirk

[UNCIVILIZED]

Originally Posted by Dirk Williams

So after my question, and zero response, I did some research. I picked up 12 bolt on F-16 static wicks. The very ones used on the F-16 AC. Eventually I'll secure six on one side of the mast and six on the other side of the mast, pointed down and back.

Some of the sail mags, have recent articles on this lightening strike issues, are suggesting that the discharge ports " wicks" just might be the ticket.,,

Dirk

There are purpose built static dissipators marketed for yachts, though as to their efficacy I couldn't say. But it appears that there's been some interest in them on here before.
Lightning Master™ (Static Dissipater)
http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...ood-99714.html
Lighting dissipator

Another good resource for info on this would be Professional Boatbuilder Magazine www.ProBoat.com I've seen several articles on lightning in it over the years. And probably places like The Landing School www.LandingSchool.edu

I'd also check with places with a lot of composite spar knowledge, & R&D. Like GMT (Goetz in RI), or Hall Spars (if they're still open). Since keeping lightning away from expensive, & fragile, carbon fiber spars would seem important.


EDIT: Wouldn't physics suggest that the energy dissipated from an aircraft to be a bit different than that from a sailboat. Given that AC generate electricity via their motion, & that it's quantity would be a good bit greater than that formed on or around a boat? Plus a boat's grounded, more or less, where an aircraft...
Also, boats don't usually travel through regions of cloud to cloud lightning.

[Vasco]

Originally Posted by Dirk Williams

So after my question, and zero response, I did some research. I picked up 12 bolt on F-16 static wicks. The very ones used on the F-16 AC. Eventually I'll secure six on one side of the mast and six on the other side of the mast, pointed down and back.

Some of the sail mags, have recent articles on this lightening strike issues, are suggesting that the discharge ports " wicks" just might be the ticket.,,

Dirk

Good luck! Hope you're in FL and can tell us how it works. I have resorted to prayer after two strikes. So far so good.

[travellerw]

Originally Posted by Vasco

Good luck! Hope you're in FL and can tell us how it works. I have resorted to prayer after two strikes. So far so good.

LOL.. Yup I agree.. After our strike I was gobsmacked at how random the strike was. Didn't follow any path or logic I thought it would.. It had a clear path down the forestay to the water, yet it "chose" to go out the saildrive. Crazy stuff..

Sure hope I'm wrong and the poster is on to something!

[tkeithlu]

Comparing aircraft and boats is not going to get us very far - there are too many differences. They do generate their own static charges, so USCG swimmers have to ground the wire first. They are also pretty good Faraday boxes, as are cars, and don't carry the charge from the surrounding terrain/water. Dissipation brushes can handle the small charge on an airplane, but I sincerely doubt will make any difference on a sailboat mast.

The basics are simple: before the strike, it's a static charge, so conductive qualities are not relevant. If you're the highest, sharpest object in that charge field, the charge is so massive that it will overcome 1,000 feet of air insulation, and now it's flowing current, at volts and amps that, as said above, lie outside our experience with electricity. It's going to find the best available conductors to ground. People under trees are at risk because the tree was the high point, and wet wood is an OK conductor producing steam and flying bark, but then here's this nice human saline solution that is a better conductor than wood, a we have a crispy critter. If it hits your boat, the damage can range from next to nothing to total destruction, with fried electronics being a 99.9% bet given their aversion to very high voltages. Grounding your mast helps, but does not guarantee safety. We go through this topic every few months.

[Dirk Williams]

You may be right regarding static discharge wicks. In the 80s I use to flew around in P-3 E Orion's we had static wicks on the trailing edged.

I have two specific memoirs of taking lightening strikes on the radome, and watching a blue ball of, " matter" slowly float down the center of the airplane past all the EWOPS and spooks, and out the tail boom.

When we landed in Athens, it was my job to replace all the blown static wicks.

Happened again a years later is Sig Sicily.

I don't know that I would have purchased these. We have an F15 training base here, I was talking to one of the maintance USAF guys about the idea.

The next day he arrived at my house and handed me thse F-16 static wicks. Seems their not consistent from an F15 and the F-16s. They were in a back room and we're going to be thrown in the trash.

I have no idea if they will work, but I'm willing to give it a chance.

What have I got to loose?

Dirk