Windsurfing During a Lightning Storm
The Dangers from Lightning for Sailboarders in a Severe Thunderstorm
Windsurfing in a raging storm! Huge, black, billowing thunder clouds overhead. Rain falling in torrents; sheets of lightning filling the sky. Wind bulging out the smallest sail to push the sailboard at record speed.
Sounds like fun, but lightning can be extremely dangerous for sailboarders.
How Lightning Occurs
As storm clouds build, ice and hail is blown around in the cloud by the strong wind. This generates electric charges, like static electricity. All these small charges accumulate together making the top of the cloud positively charged and the bottom negative.
The earth's potential is positive compared to the cloud base. At this stage there is about 100 million Volts between the cloud base and the earth.
The cloud then starts releasing some of this stored energy. Leaders, or streamers, fan out from the cloud. If one of these leaders comes close to an irregularity on the ground, a path forms and a "return stroke" is sent from the ground up to the cloud. It is this "return stroke" that is seen as lightning.
Lightning looks like it travels from the cloud to the ground, but it is going the other way. Human eyes can't react quick enough to see it.
In this return stroke, there can be around 100,000 Amps. This high current, in a blaze of white light, heats the air causing it to expand rapidly. This expansion generates a shock wave that is heard as thunder.
Lightning’s Impact on a Sailboard
How does this lightning impact on a sailboarder? Unfortunately, he or she could be the irregularity on the earth's surface.
A lot of sailboarders say, "I`ll be right. I've got a fibreglass mast. It doesn't conduct electricity." However, 100 million Volts is high enough that it will go through anything. It is seeking the quickest path between the cloud base and the earth. That is why trees, which theoretically don't conduct electricity, are commonly struck by lightning.
Sailboarders Shouldn’t Assume They are Safe From Lightning
Another fallacy is that using an aluminium mast is safer, because the lightning will travel down the mast. That could be true in theory, but the body holding onto the mast will be wet, another perfect path for the lightning.
Lightning is not something to be taken lightly. It has killed people walking down the street and sailboarders are a prime target. Mainly because a mast in a flat expanse of water is a prime target.
How Sailboarders can Keep Safe From Lightning
If there is a lightning storm around, a sailboarder should get out of the water. This is not saying to miss out on the wind from the storms. As storms build there can be strong winds before the lightning starts. The crucial time is when the storm is overhead and the lightning is close by.
If caught out in a lightning storm on the water, a sailboarder should get off the board and swim the rig it to shore. This might sound crazy if there is thirty knots blowing, but it is like playing Russian roulette on a sailboard with 100 million Volts overhead looking for a path to earth.
These precautions aren't so important for southern sailers as the majority of electrical storms are in the tropics. For example, Darwin, in northern Australia, has about 80 days a year where there is a storm.
By keeping in mind these dangers a sailboarder won't be the next statistic to be struck by lightning.
For sailboarding techniques, refer to Suite 101 articles:
Standing Start on a Windsurfer
Deepwater Starts on a Sailboard
Windsurfing in a Lightning Storm can be Dangerous
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