oooo, scary...

S

Skeetobite

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So a couple days ago we're headed out the "New Pass" inlet at Sarasota Bay. A minor storm had stalled over Longboat Key for nearly 2 hours and since there was no rain or lightning, we decided to head out. Since it was small we decided to punch through it and head down the coast.

Just our luck, the storm strengthened rapidly as we headed out the channel and it started dropping lightning like crazy. I was at the helm and a bolt hit the water right behind the boat. All the sudden a blue arc about 2 inches long jumped from the wheel and hit my finger. It was a shock somehwere between a strong static shock and a standard 110v poke.

Nothing was affected on the boat beyond my pucker factor. Obviously I'll be re-thinking my departures in the face of a summer storm in Florida!
 
You should be receiving your new T-shirt from Thor very shortly...

Now you know why my Dad wrapped his S/S helm in electrical tape! ;)
 
"Since it was small we decided to punch through it "

That was the first mistake!!
 
If you never want to get caught out in a summer thunder storm in Florida, you'll never go out all summer. Fact of life here.
 
Agreed, but there is a difference between being caught out in a TRW, and trying to "punch through" one!!
 
Playing Chicken with Mother Nature? Not a good idea if given a choice.
 
The more posts I read from you guys in FL, the happier I am that I spent most of my life up in the Pacific Northwest. We had bad weather, but that lightening was not normal for us at all.
 
quote:
Originally posted by psalzer

Agreed, but there is a difference between being caught out in a TRW, and trying to "punch through" one!!

Click to expand...


You might be right. I guess I'm just jaded. It is the lightning capital of the US down here. So one can end up taking it for granted.
 
Capt. Bill, I lived and did our boating in Fl. for many years and were caught in many thunderstorms, usually were able to avoid them, sometimes out ran them, and occasionally got wet!! I can remember one particular trip when we came out of Bayou Grande into Pensacola Bay and was 3 waterspouts!! We returned to the dock and tried again another day.
 
Having spent virtually all of my life in the waters of the GoMex, S Fla and the Bahamas ( it's a tough life, but somebody's gotta do it. :) ) I have a fair amount of experience w/ "afternoon T-storms".

What you learn is that they are often transitory. Waiting a few minutes can make all the difference in the world. Next, what a T-storm brings: rain. If you have no lighting activity, it can be the very best way to wash down the boat. Rainwater washes off the salt beautifully. Wind can be more interesting. Generally T-storms move on ( or you do ) so the wind's effects are usually short term. Mind you a 55kt gust is -still- a 55kt gust, but usually is it of short duration. Lightning, well, that is a good reason to turn a fun fishing weekend into an at-home "honey, do" event. There is little you can do to negate the effects of Thor's hammer, and even a glancing blow ( as described in the OP ) can be a real attention getter. I've ( unavoidably ) been "nipped" a few times and I have no intention of allowing it to happen again. All were uncomfortable. Once the paralysis in my arm lasted for hours, and the muscle damage from the spasm took a week to clear up ( I was young. Now it would take months ).

I'm glad to hear your experience was "merely interesting" rather than any one of the other, less desirable, outcomes.
 
It was an eye opener, that's for sure. The big issue for me was the lightning. Seas were less than 2 feet and the winds were only gusting into the 30's. I should have never gone out into the gulf when I could have just outran the entire storm by staying in the ICW. Except I wouldn't want to try station keeping in those winds while waiting for the bridges to open ;-) The only way I have found I can do that well is stern to in tight quarters.

For those who aren't familiar with typical afternoon storms on the gulf coast; if you have a boat capable of 20 kts or more, you can navigate around the entire storm with relative ease. I have a few sailing friends who actually time their outtings to ride the outflow boundaries of these storms back in to Tampa Bay. Seems foolish to me, but they like it.
 
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