anthony f Posted November 18, 2009 Share Posted November 18, 2009 The dangers are quiet obvious, even more so with the use of graphite. While having heard of deaths due to strikes while land-based fishing, I have no re-call on anything about what the story is while in a boat. Yes it would be a good spot to be hit as you are the highest point around and we where always told not to swim in a pool when younger during a storm but I can,t ever remember this happening. Does any-one know the facts? and how far would the water be charge from a strike? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FishDrought Posted November 18, 2009 Share Posted November 18, 2009 Good question mate, I always thought that a strike was caused by a charge ememating from the ground as an earth & one from the storm the two charges meet above ground in the air & of course would make use of any conductive materials like graphite fishing rods, swing golf clubs.. But I am probably wrong mate... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michaelrdoyle@gmail.com Posted November 18, 2009 Share Posted November 18, 2009 I'm not an expert - but there is no way I would be out in a boat in the middle of a lightening storm. You will be wet, sitting in a good conductor (metal), and you will be the highest point for many kms. sounds like a recipe for disaster. Mike Check out: http://www.struckbylightning.org/news/dispIncidentdb.cfm and http://www.sailingcatamarans.com/lightningarticle.htm The first link records people who have died in lightening strikes whilst boating. Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Davemmm Posted November 18, 2009 Share Posted November 18, 2009 Good question mate, I always thought that a strike was caused by a charge ememating from the ground as an earth & one from the storm the two charges meet above ground in the air & of course would make use of any conductive materials like graphite fishing rods, swing golf clubs.. But I am probably wrong mate... Not quite a charge emanating from the ground but a positive chargefrom the clouds looking for a lower charge to head to. Usually this is simply another cloud but the earth is generally at 0v so it will head there. Get a poly, I reckon the plastic is non-conductive. Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BFB Posted November 18, 2009 Share Posted November 18, 2009 "Get a poly, I reckon the plastic is non-conductive." Anything will conduct electricity if it has enough volts applied to it and lighting consists of millions of volts. Air is normally non-conductive but lighting will still strike through it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A.dawg Posted November 18, 2009 Share Posted November 18, 2009 As said the lightning clouds are positive and some parts off the ground are negative... there fall the lightning will jump from A-B and passes through air which is a medium... While jumping from A-B if there is any higher objects it will be attracted to it... I dont know why there are no lightning strikes on boats... BUt my guess is that a boat is at sea level and so has a very low altitude therefore the lightning cannot reach it... all lightning strikes i hear off are at high ground and in moutain ranged areas.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anthony f Posted November 18, 2009 Author Share Posted November 18, 2009 The people I have heard of where beach fishing at the time and this would of been before the advent of graphite. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arpie Posted November 28, 2009 Share Posted November 28, 2009 I was on the beach fishing when an electrical storm happened & my neighbour said to lay or rods down & lie down on the sand til the lightening passed or stopped. I wasn't sure if he was geeing me up or not, but it appears to have been correct! We were the tallest things between the surf & the bush. The other week when I was on my yak fishing with yakfishin/Tristan, we lay our rods down whilst returning to our vehicles during an electrical storm, just in case! Better to be sure, than dead! Not many people survive a lightening strike! Roberta Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gummybusta Posted November 28, 2009 Share Posted November 28, 2009 alot of pro boats (trawl, longline, short line, trappers) out in almost all conditions and for the bigger boats of the fishing fleets they may be out way too far to even worrie about things like storms and squalls i can't say i have heard of any of them being hit by lighting and they have some very big and long arial for the radios on board that would make great lighting rods why this is i can't say nor can i say why you don't hear of boats being hit even if they are moored boats i have also been on rock walls fishing for jewies when lighting storms have rolled over and i have yet to be hit and would say i'm more of a chance of winning the jackpot lotto or being hit by a car while going to work than lighting but boy do the fish really turn it on when storm frounts close in Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
copafisher Posted November 28, 2009 Share Posted November 28, 2009 More recent strike on the Central Coast. Lightning strike kills tourist - December 5, 2007 - 12:22PM http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/lig...6530728025.html A 27-year-old French tourist who arrived in Australia eight days ago with her boyfriend was killed instantly when she was struck by lightning overnight on the Central Coast. The woman had been standing in ankle-deep water watching her boyfriend fish at Terrigal Beach about 8.20pm when she was struck by lightning, Gosford police said. "[Her boyfriend] was fishing and basically there's just been a lightning strike," a police spokesman said. "It's hit her and knocked her boyfriend and two other people over. "It was a direct strike and it killed her instantly.'' The boyfriend and the two other people were taken to Gosford hospital, but were uninjured, he said. The French embassy has been informed and the boyfriend has already called the woman's family, the spokesman said. Lightning accounts for five to 10 deaths and well over 100 injuries every year in Australia, according to the Bureau of Meteorology. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xtosea Posted November 28, 2009 Share Posted November 28, 2009 Ive been told if you are in a boat to put your anchor out and anchor so you are earthed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
taloyoak Posted November 28, 2009 Share Posted November 28, 2009 Holy Mackeral, I was up in Cape York, working and fishing for 3 months a number of years ago, in a place named Pormpuraaw, which is on the SW end of Cape York. I was fly fishing one evening at the mouth of this river that met the ocean there, and a big storm was brewing, but still seemed far off. Well let me tell you, I saw a lightening flash and then felt a buzz through my fly rod that scared the absolute crap out of me, enuff for me to start running away from the water, which I was standing on the edge of. Enuff about the crocs and snakes there, but dying by lightening whilst fishing- give me a break. That's my experience with fishing and lightening. Also, I spent a month in New Zealand in 1999, mountaineering in the Mt Cook region, during January. We were staying in the Tasman Saddle hut, and met a group of 3 climbers who summited Cook, but it was during a storm, and they said their ice axes were "humming" enough for them to be scared and spend virtually no time at the top. Crazy! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twoblues Posted November 29, 2009 Share Posted November 29, 2009 (edited) Up in PNG many years ago we were out on the water when a storm struck. (Actually, most afternoons storms struck). One of the boats not too far from us got hit. The lightning struck the aerial (highest point) and went through the radio and zapped the skipper. He survived with minimal burns, but we were told later that we should have a copper wire attached to the aerial, and we should throw it into the water during a storm, so that there is a direct grounding for any lightning. I'm not sure if this is an old wives tale or not (I don't have any old wives) but it sounds logical. Two Blues. Edited November 29, 2009 by twoblues Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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