wakeboarding during lightning

Me and my folks were having a debate the other day about what to due when a lightning storm jumps out on you while on the lake!! We wakeboard in Annecy in France in the mountains so lightning storms are very frequent and sometimes happen very quickly!!

My argument was that a bolt of lightning looks for the shortest way to earth and due to the mountains and the trees being so high all around the lake and the lake its self being quite narrow and long we would be a low priority for the lightning???????

Also if lightning hit the lake surely the amount of water wouldnt be able to concentrate the electricity enough to hurt anybody?????

My parents disagree and told me im a dumbass, and i deserve to get fried for being so stupid!!!!!

Dont get me wrong i think there is a risk and the safest think to do is to get off the lake as quickly and safely as possible but i dont think my mum should freak out as much as she does when thunder appears!!!!

My parents disagree and told me im a dumbass, and i deserve to get fried for being so stupid!!!!!

Score:
Parents - 2

if you see lightning, be sure and stand as close to your aluminum tower as possible... you should be fine...

If you play with fire...

Parents only got 2 points???? I would put some zero's behind that number.

Dude, why not just grab a golf club and use your sun pad as your driving tee during the lightning storms??? At least once you are hit, your boat will definitely have enough juice to start.

But, I think the better response should have been to seek cover somewhere.

yeah not a good idea.

yeah, being out in a boat with a tower on it during a lightning storm is not the best idea. electricity doesnt look for the "shortest" path, it looks for the path of least "resistance". both water and metal (most metals) are good conductors of electricity, and guess what, your body is predominately water. just because the trees are taller than your boat does not mean that electricity will strike the tree.

Lightning is unpredictable. If you are out and exposed then you are in danger. Just like the other night when I was on a aluminum ladder working on the roof in a lightning storm.

IMO,

there is no issue if lightning hits the lake away from you.

but, there is concern with lightning hitting the boat tower or the rider.

lightning (electricity) likes to take the least resistive path to ground.

if you get struck by lightning, your parents can say YOUR GROUNDED!

Actually, lightning starts at the surface and goes up to the sky. The only way to get hurt by lightning is to be at the point of contact.

isnt there different types of lighting some that starts at the ground and some that starts in the sky???

nate, that would be a no, all but ball lightning go from the ground up. the human eye is to slow to see the up stroke, so all we see is the return stroke.

GD,

Years ago a woman was killed while pulling in a tube and lighting struck the other side of the lake (not a huge lake of course). Tube was in the water and the rope leading up to her was wet. Have you ever seen the water when it gets hit?

so the wet rope played some part in this? What about the fact that her arse was sittin in water?

IDK. seems pretty obvious to me. Lightning + water = no bueno.

but what if i have rubber pads under the mounting and backing plates of the tower? even if my hair stands up and the sky is green, everything will be fine, right?

Actually, she was in the boat, pulling in the tube. Lightning hit water, traveled through the tube and rope and into her hands, while she was standing in the boat.

Parents score was 2 because I was the second person to respond and agree.
Now if you all followed suit by adding yourself to the score, it would be:
Parents - 13
face smash- 1

make sense now?

(Message edited by phantom5815 on June 16, 2008)

Not saying I haven't done it but we do kinda drive around with big ass lightning rods sticking out of our boats . . . . . just saying

I understand now...

This is a tree in may back yard, hit Friday during a storm.

Scary part is my house was struck about 6 months ago...

Maybe I need to move..

Weskel

The previous owner of the first boat I bought was hit by lightning. He survived after a long spell in the hospital and the boat was refurbished with all new electrical components. Yeah no chance of lightning hitting a boat or rider is the tallest thing around on a perfectly flat surface. Just keep the video rolling next time you hit the lake with lightning. Your heirs may be able to use the extra cash selling it to some reality show.

"nate, that would be a no, all but ball lightning go from the ground up. the human eye is to slow to see the up stroke, so all we see is the return stroke."

http://www.stormhighway.com/faqw1.shtml

Shane...nice one! haha

not the first time I've been wrong! I'll shut up now

(Message edited by blind on June 16, 2008)

Maybe not totally wrong. Even in cloud to ground lightning, it describes a leader that comes up from the ground to meet the downward lightning. I'm not sure if the leader is a bolt or if it's ionized air. Kind of weird to think that a bolt of electrons would rise to meet a downward bolt of electrons. Not very intuitive electrically speaking since the same charge should repell.

thanks John, I was just going off what an old friend had told me. He studied lightning for some government agency.

Lightning metal and water is BAD news. Get off the water asap.

lighting travels for about a mile through water!