Lightning Strikes Sailboat at Columbia Yacht Club in Boston...

That is the disadvantage of having the highest mast in the harbour. I am sure, one ore the other onboard electronic has smoked away. What a waste of electrical energy. We should be able to store this amount of power, rather then turning nice radios, radars and plotter into black dust .

Looks like pretty strong lightning strike. Luckily those big ones are very seldom in Europe.

Interesting in light of yesterday's race at Daytona. They, like many outdoor venues, operate under an 8 mile plan. Any lightning strike within 8 miles of the location brings a shut down and starts a 30 minute clock before things can resume. They have a scanner at the track that shows an 8 mile radius and all lightning strikes. I'm not familiar with the equipment but can see something like it being very beneficial to boaters in the future. As happened yesterday, the lightning strikes may be well in advance of rain.

Most sports venues have in recent years begun to recognize lightning as that which is to be feared more than storms when it comes to participant and fan safety. Years ago golf didn't pay attention and even when storms would hit, the golfers would wait on the course for play to resume. After a couple were struck over the years, several golfers simply said they were not staying on the course, were heading to the clubhouse, and didn't care if it got them disqualified. The sport changed it's practices dramatically.

I had a 3rd cousin (technically second cousin once removed or something like that) struck and killed by lightning when I was young and it was a single strike of lightning when it was not raining. The storm was believed to be well off in the distance. It hit her and the tree beside her, hitting her in the head. Death was instant. Her family was gathered on the lake preparing for a family reunion to be held at the lake cottage.

There are ways to capture lightning, but the equipment tends to be either heavy or bulky, so you would not likely see it on a sailboat. This is why you will see sailboats with their main masts lying along their length when a boat is not planned to be used for a good while.

Eh, nope. Having owned and operated sailboats for many decades lighting strikes have never been a consideration whether to leave the pole up or down. "Lightning hits the highest point" is not actually a very correct statement. It follows the path of the least resistance, electrically speaking. Now, to keep it from going somewhere we don't want it to, we offer that path on buildings with grounded conductors and yes, we place them as high as possible again to keep it from trying something else. A fiberglass boat is not an easy path to ground. I've been in thunderstorms on open water and seen lighting striking the water and not my mast. I've seen it hit a metal manhole cover surrounded by trees in the middle of the woods. More science, less myth.