Saturday I was out canoeing on a river when a strong lightning storms blew in. The river was only about 70 feet across, 15-foot sandy banks on either side and mature maples and oaks beyond that. The ground was soaked due to all the recent rain.

When the first thunder was heard we landed the aluminum canoe and headed to the center of the sandy bank. We didn't want to be under the trees but we didn't want to be near the big, metal canoe or in/near the water. The storm went right over us with lightning striking all around us. During that time we separated from each other about 25 feet (figuring if one got hit the other would survive) and stood on our life jackets hoping they would offer some insulation. It was the scariest thing I've been through in years. I forgot how loud thunder is when you aren't in a house. We were miles away from any help with no place for a helicopter to land. Any sort of rescue would have taken hours.

Anyway, did we handle this situation properly or did we just get lucky? How far away from a lightning strike is safe? Was there any advantage to standing on our life jackets? How far apart would we need to be to both avoid getting hit by the same blast (no pun intended)?

-Blast

Whew, that must've gotten the ol' ticker going, eh? Sounds like you hit the major lightning safety points, given your situation. The one thing you didn't mention, which you may have done, was to keep your body low since the two of you were probably the tallest objects on the sandy bank.

I have read that 15 feet is the minimum spacing between people, so 25 feet seems adequate. I don't know if lifejackets provide much electrical insulation, but I don't think it would hurt to stand on them.

Glad you're safe!

Since no one was struck, you probably did as much as possible, (for a scary situation, try a Nevada thunderstorm, LOTS of lightening striking a canyon rim 100-150 ft. above your head (now THAT'S scary, and LOUD too!!))

I'm wondering what you would do in a sailboat - big water, slow boat, tall aluminum mast. I don't hear much about injuries though. Many years ago three friends of mine were killed on Ocacoke Island in NC, when one pair beached a Hobie with the mast touching a low slung power line. One of the other two on another Hobie was killed trying to help them. The one thing I learned about electricity in engineering school is "don't touch it".

Okay, I used to be okay with enduring Texas Thunderstorms, till this one time...

We were doing sewer system analysis in Houston to check for breakdown, shifts in the line, blockage etc. On one occasion, we happened into an area relatively sparsely populated with trees and structures, and set up our little rig, which consisted of a sonar array connected to a 2000 meter braided steel cable spooled onto a motor driven drum with four conductors inside the cable. The cable draped over a set of guides mounted to 3" aluminum I Beam that stuck up out of the manholes about 14 feet. The cable then ran down into the effluent stream behind the sonar array, sometimes the runs would be nearly 1/4 mile long. Anyways, a storm came upon us faster than we could react, as Texas storms tend to do, and I found myself sitting inside the van, with the drum at my feet, at least 400 feet of cable run out into the sewer system, and that danged aluminum I-Beam sticking out of the hole not 25 feet from me. The poor little generator that was running the motor to spool in the cable was getting swamped by the deluge coming down, and meanwhile lightning strikes are coming down around me so close there's virtually no delay between the flash and the boom. I chanting prayers faster than the rabbis at the wailing wall can, thinking the whole time that I am going to become like the Stay Puft Marshmallow man from Ghostbusters. Someone must've been listening, because I am here, but I lost my nerve that day, and for a long time thereafter if a boomer was heading my way, I would head for cover quick. It wasn't till I had done my time in Baghdad that I was able to keep my cool and not react so bad to ole zappy.

As far as going out on the water and getting caught, well, I don't enjoy water that much anyways, thanks to the Navy, so maybe they done me a favor after all.

That sounded scary!

Standing on anything dry and non-conducting is a good idea. It's not going to save you from a direct hit from above or sideways, but if there's a strike nearby and its transmitted through the ground, it should insulate you from it. At least, that's the theory.

And if anyone thinks they can't be hit by lightning sideways through the open window of a car, think again. That's what happened to a forest ranger (he was in the Guiness Book of World Records as the person who has been struck by lightning the most times -- 8 times, I think).

Sue

Blast,

Glad you two were okay! However, even if you were to get as low as possible you (Blast) would still have been the tallest on the sandbar!!! You should always have the bowman hold his wet paddle or fishing rod high in the air. It's like out running the bear.

kmat

Sailboats are great lightning rods! A larger sailboat such as a 30' or 40' is grounded through the keel of the boat.
A small boat is not grounded in any way that I know of. In lifeguarding we tell people to simply clear the water.

BLAST..as a long time canoe tripper i would say you did
all the right things..heavy lighting drives me to shore
where i get into low bushes and sit on my life jacket..
if its just rain with distant lighting or just thunder
i paddle close to shore..there is a "cone of safety" that
extends out from a wooded shore about 30 feet..seeing
blasted tall pine trees is not uncommon and i have a
hunk of wood that was exploded out of a cedar tree near
one of my camps..i spent an hour or so tossing buckets
of water on the glowing remains..the canoe web sites are
full of "almost got it" storys--most zaps get people in
a tent during a storm when the roots carry the strike
around..

You hear of lightning strikes to sailboat masts from time to time, but I've never experienced one. The wire stays are thought to provide a pathway to conduct the electricity down into the water. Some people trail wire from the turnbuckles into the water during a storm to assist that process. Also, lighting protection systems are available commercially.

Most of the boats these days are fiberglass, a very poor conductor, so if you stay in your rain gear (usually rubberized fabric or PVC) and don't touch anything metal on the boat, you aren't too likely to get fried. Or so the theory goes.

IMHO proper boating safety during lightning is, as CANOEDOGS said, to get the heck off the water.

Frank2135