I don't know if there is enough empirical evidence to support any
conclusions expressed by Payne and others. Instances are very rare, in my
experiences, for me to build firm conclusions in the matter of lightening
strikes. We were one time caught for several hours in heavy thunderstorms
out of Panama and watched lightening strike the water around us--within
hundreds of feet. Our mast was the only thing sticking up above the ocean
and yet un-explainably, we were not hit. One case of a non-bonded hull,
where its mast struck a low-hanging high-high voltage power line from a
dam's generating-plant, current did blow holes in the hull. In another
situation in a marina where we sat, lightning hit one of the nearby
sailboats, with a bonded hull. The boat received no physical damage other
than ruining all electronic devices. That bolt passed right over our mast to
hit the other of equal mast-height in amongst several. No reason for that
particular boat to be hit and the rest of us not.

Was this because we had a bonded hull? It did too. I really cannot answer.

Tom

MONSHADOW

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Received on Fri Feb 23 11:48:10 2007