no more fishing in the storms

http://www.nasdonline.org/document/209/d000007/boating-lightning-protection.html

There is no such thing as lightning-proof boats, only lightning-protected boats. All-metal ships are rarely damaged, and injuries or deaths are uncommon. These ships are frequently struck, but the high conductivity of the large quantities of metal, with hundreds of square yards of hull in direct contact with the water, causes rapid dissipation of the electrical charge.


But small boats are seldom made of metal. Their wood and fiberglass construction do not provide the automatic grounding protection offered by metal-hulled craft. Therefore, when lightning strikes a small boat, the electrical current is searching any route to ground and the human body is an excellent conductor of electricity!

Today's fiberglass-constructed small boats, especially sailboats, are particularly vulnerable to lightning strikes since any projection above the flat surface of the water acts as a potential lightning rod. In many cases, the small boat operator or casual weekend sailor is not aware of this vulnerability to the hazards of lightning. These boats can be protected from lightning strikes by properly designed and connected systems of lightning protection. However, the majority of these boats are not so equipped.

Lightning protection systems do not prevent lightning strikes. They may, in fact, increase the possibilities of the boat being struck. The purpose of lightning protection is to reduce the damage to the boat and the possibility of injuries or death to the passengers from a lightning strike.

When the lightning does strike, it will most often strike the highest object in the immediate area. On a body of water, that highest object is a boat. Once it strikes the boat, the electrical charge is going to take the most direct route to the water where the electrical charge will dissipate in all directions.

Negative charges repel negative charges and attract positive charges. So, as a thunder cloud passes overhead, a concentration of positive charges accumulates in and on all objects below the cloud. Since these positive charges are attempting to reach the negative charge of the cloud, they tend to accumulate at the top of the highest object around. On a boat that may be the radio antenna, the mast, a fishing rod, or even you! The better the contact an object has with the water, the more easily these positive charges can enter the object and race upward toward the negative charge in the bottom of the cloud.

Let's consider a few possibilities. Lightning strikes the ungrounded radio antenna on your boat. The metal antenna carries the electrical charge to the radio, which does not have a good conductor to the water. Your hand is on the radio, or on metal connected to the radio. Your feet are on a wet surface, which is in contact with metal which extends through the hull of the boat to the water. Your body may then become the best conductor for the electrical charge.

A second example is a sailboat. Lightning strikes the mast. The electrical current follows the mast or wire rope to your hands, through your body to the wet surface, and then through the hull to the water.
Or, while operating a motor boat, the lightning strikes you, passes through your body to the motor, and then to the water.

Or, sitting in your aluminum or fiberglass rowboat, you are holding a graphite (a good electrical conductor) fishing rod. The rod is struck by lightning. The electrical charge passes through the rod, your body, then to the boat to the water.