Thunder and lightning

South Pacific Familyadventure 2008
Claes Brodin
Thu 22 Sep 2022 09:29
Heading into the night we were met by heavy thunder and lightning. As usual this was accompanied by heavy rain and winds gusting galeforce.
Mercedes disconnected all possible electrical equipment and mobile electrical equipment she placed in the oven and microwave (to act as a Faradays cage)
Dora Mac has an inbuilt lightning protection system but how efficient this is and how it`s built is for me unknown.
Doing research on the subject of lightningstrikes on yachts at sea I have been struck by how little is known. According to insurnacecompany the frequency of yachts struck by lightning is increasing,especially in the tropics and in the Mediterranean. If this is because of an increasing number of yachts at sea or frequency of thunder increasing is not clear.
What seems to be known though is that the risk to be struck in "normal risk areas" is 1/1000 per year. The risk is higher onboard katamarans than monohulls and steelboats have less damage when struck since the steelhull partly acts as a Faradays cage.
Turning east around Cabo Sao Vicente at sunrise the thunder flew eastwards and we dropped anchor just east of the entrance to Lagos at 07.15

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