Can You Get Killed By Lightning in a Wakeboard Boat?

[curling]

Me and my daughters caught a wild hair yesterday and tried to get a wakeboarding session in before this radical looking thunderstorm hit us. I went first got a few decent jumps then came sprinkle and then all hell broke loose. So I climbed in the boat and headed for the freeway bridge over the river. We stayed there for about 45 minutes it was coming down hard.

Then my daughters friend started freaking out saying that we were going to die if lightning hit the water. I lied bigger than crap that we were safe because the boat was fiberglass. I have no idea if lightning travels through fiberglass or not. I just knew we have a wakeboard tower that would make an excellent lightning rod if we didn't get under that bridge. We did have a good time listening to music and acting crazy in the rain though. (see ylifter I do family stuff)

Does anybody know if you really safe in a boat or not if lighning hits the boat or water near the boat?

Thanks./

 

[Gambino]

i would imagine that you'd be okay on accound of the electricty dissappating (sp) in a large body of water...think about it, it doesn't kill all the fish...


btw, any pics of daughter and friend in bikinis?

 

[AAP]

Redneck parent pwned by a knowledgeable 7th grade school girl.

 

[AAP]

Lighting can travel through fiberglass too, BTW.

Last year on my birthday I was having lunch at a resturant on the beach and a dude (about 40) was struck by lighting and killed. He was carrying a fishpole (fiberglass) and the lightning struck the tip, traveled down and blew him about 7 feet away.

 

[the nature boy]

More and more, I've become jealous of curling.

 

[BrandonXJ]

"Water does not "attract" lightning. It does, however, conduct current very well. It's not clear how far lightning travels through water. People have been killed or injured by direct or indirect strikes while in or on the water, boats, docks, piers, surf, surfboards, canoes, while fishing, and so on. In most cases, it appears that the strike was within a few tens of yards of the person. But the current can extend farther through plumbing or wiring so the distance of influence can be greater."

(Answered by: Ron Holle, research meteorologist, NOAA National Severe Storms Laboratory, Norman, Okla., Aug. 18, 1999)

Possible? yes. Likely? your call.

 

[Y_lifter]

Hundreds of thousands of volts can travel through anything if it hits close.
Your boat and your head is the highest thing out there on the lake.

Generally people get struck by lightening by the first bolts of a storm,
before they know a storm was even close..

At least your kids were smart enough to talk you into getting under the bridge..

 

[TheProject]

More and more, I've become jealous of curling.

He's starting to remind me of Chevy Chase in all those Vacation movies.

 

[curling]

Hundreds of thousands of volts can travel through anything if it hits close.
Y

At least your kids were smart enough to talk you into getting under the bridge..

It was MY idea to get under the bridge they wanted to leave by getting the truck and trailor which would have exposed us to the lightning. And it was bad, one thunder was so loud it rattled the windshield. I knew to get under the bridge because we use to do it when I was high school skiing with friends.

 

[Gambino]

He's starting to remind me of Chevy Chase in all those Vacation movies.

I was thinking more Frank Dreben-esque

 

[curling]

I was thinking more Frank Dreben-esque

Who is Frank Dreben?

And why would ya'll be jealous of me? I'm the one that is 40 remember?

 

[Gambino]

Frank Dreben=Leslie Nielson in Naked Gun

 

[curling]

Frank Dreben=Leslie Nielson in Naked Gun

What? I am not an idiot. Sheesh I am just kinda crazy.

 

[Gambino]

Dreben wasn't a idiot, he always scored the hot-momma

 

[milo hobgoblin]

No, Jesus would protect you.. the rest of us would be fucked.

 

[curling]

No, Jesus would protect you.. the rest of us would be fucked.

You will only be fucked if you choose to stay fucked. The choice is up to you dude. But just like the knight said in "The Last Crusade", choose but choose wisely".

 

[Y_lifter]

I think under the bridge was the best place to be in your circumstance, other
than not being on the lake at all..

I could better evaluate this statement If I had pictures to back it up..

 

[coldblue1955]

Nah! The lightning will just give you super powers. lol.