Lightning is an anomaly: It strikes wherever and whenever it wants. In my case, it struck me and by boat 200 miles south of Central America in 2011, on a glorious passage from Peru to Mexico. It was 2000 hrs, dark, and my one crew member, my friend Michael, was asleep in the aft cabin. I was on watch in the cockpit when I noticed a spectacular lightning event on the horizon, and was able to verify on my radar that it was approximately 20 nm away. “Terrific! Mother Nature is giving me a wonderful lightning show to entertain me!” I said to myself. Suddenly, I smelled smoke coming up the companionway.
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Great article driving home the need to have an active paper chart and an ongoing plot in fair and foul seas.
Great article. While I do not do off shore, the same principles hold true for lake sailing. I will start practicing using my paper charts more Thank you
I had a GPS failure off the east coast about 25 years ago, when back-up GPS was rare. However, like Pamela, I had recorded our position every 4 hours. I learned coastal piloting as a part of learning to sail and hike years before, and dead reckoning is just high school physics. I still had paper charts. For two days I plotted our course on paper, guessing about the Gulf Stream and correcting for what I knew of our probably leeway. I intentionally plotted course about 5 miles north of our intended landfall so that I would know which way to turn when I sighted land. Binoculars help.
Thankfully the weather remained fair. Everything went according to plan and it was a plesant expereince. The keys were having recorded our position on a regular basis, having adjusted the compass a few years before, and having paper backups. I still have paper charts. They are far out of date but will serve to get me home. For the most part, the only things that change are buoy positions and highly mobile shoals, but as long as you expect that, careful observation should get you through. Regarding entrances with highly mobile shoals, there is nothing wrong with getting on the radio when you get close and asking for local knowledge. If the radio is out, hail a local boat.
Thunderstorms with lightning are not uncommon during the summer months on Lake Erie, where I do most of my sailing these days. I have also sailed on the east coast of the US in the Atlantic, the Caribbean, the Gulf of Mexico, and a few other areas. Luckily, I have only been caught in lightning storms about six times. I keep paper charts, parallel ruler, and dividers on my boat.
Another thing I keep on board is a pair of automotive jumper cables. If we are approaching a thunderstorm, we clamp a jumper cable to the base of our upper shrouds and toss the other end into the water. We do this port and starboard. My thinking is that this provides another path for the lighting to travel. I do not know if it works, but I have never been hit by lightning.