We had a thunderstorm the other night – flashing lightning and thunderboomers all around. I was concerned we might have a power cut and I’d miss the second half of the football match I was watching on TV. That was the extent of my concern.
A few years ago we were on our boat in a thunderstorm. I was a bit more concerned on that occasion, and with good reason as it turned out – a bolt of lightning hit the mast.
All the electronics were fried and the alternator controller burst into flames, starting an engine room fire. Putting out the fire covered the boat’s interior in extinguisher powder.
In the morning we found a few small bits of the masthead instruments on deck. Everything atop the mast had been blown off.
Taking stock of the damage we were pleased to find nothing of a structural nature; through-hulls intact, wooden masts still in one piece, rigging and chainplates OK. It was just the electronics that we’d lost and I managed to jury rig things so we could run the engine.
We were on the Alligator River heading north to Chesapeake Bay via the US east coast Intracoastal Waterway and there wasn’t much around in the way of boat repair facilities. I managed to buy a fishfinder at a small tackle store and with the transducer strapped to a broom handle we were able to make it the hundred or so miles to our destination without running aground.
I don’t like being aboard in thunderstorms, even if lightning really doesn’t strike twice.
