Thunderbolts at sea: How bathers, divers & crews of inflatable boats can protect themselves

What should we do in the event of a lightning storm when we are at sea? The General Secretariat for Civil Protection always issues relevant instructions which are posted on its website, and meteorologists often publish articles on how to protect citizens.

Today’s article by EMY director Thodoris Kolydas, helps to understand the phenomenon and lists the actions that need to be taken in order for citizens to be protected and to take the right actions to avoid danger.

The chances of an inflatable being struck by lightning at sea are very, very small because there is often something higher starting from rocks and rocky islets (so it is good to travel relatively close to land), but also from the waves that surround us.

– The lightning always chooses the best electrical way to discharge to the sea and here therefore the inflatable boat due to its small height from the sea surface has an advantage over other floats, as it does not have the huge metallic volume of a ship, nor the towering mast of a sailing boat.

For large sailing boats the construction companies have provided special lightning protection, as is the case with large ships.

– In inflatable boats, the Roll Bar should be grounded with a cable which is screwed on one end with a screw that fixes it to the boat, and the other end to one of the engine’s mounting bolts, following the shortest route, as the engine is the only metal part in constant contact with the sea. In the case of a polyester Roll Bar, a 15 to 20 cm metal spike should be placed at its highest point, which can also serve as a mast for a flag, but which will be connected internally with a cable to the engine mounting bolt.

– We will have to ground the metal fuel and water tank with a thick wire.

Also grounded should be the metal parts of the console by which we hold on to, the end of the chain that stays on the boat, the base of the steering wheel if it is hydraulic, the VHF chassis, the anchor worker and any other metal object of some volume or surface on the boat.

On board the boat in a storm, no chains, crosses, bracelets, watches with bracelets, even rings should be worn. Strange as it may seem, they can be ignited by the induced currents and cause us serious burns.

PROTECTION OF THE BOAT’S ELECTRONICS

What I have mentioned above serves to allow lightning to find an easy route to the sea, but it is not capable of protecting our electronics from surges even if they are out of order.

There are companies overseas that claim to have systems that protect machinery but always to some extent the cost must be quite high and I don’t think it is worth it for the scarce and relatively cheap electronics of an inflatable.

The VHF

We know that to get the best performance the antenna should be as high as possible. This of course makes it more vulnerable than any other component exposed to electromagnetic forces and through it our VHF. It will therefore be necessary in exceptional cases of bad weather to ground both antenna cables on the input side to the VHF and this is achieved by unscrewing the connector from the VHF and screwing it into a grounded female connector.

ANTENNA

We preface this by stating that the same guidelines apply as for swimmers and do not go diving when there is or is forecast to be a storm.

If by chance and for some reason we find ourselves in the water and realize that lightning is falling while we are deep in the sea and the lightning does not fall too close to us, we will not be harmed. The lightning is absorbed by the mass of water. But when we are on the surface then it is very dangerous the metals we carry with us flask etc. act as a magnet. But what do we do if we find ourselves in such a situation?

1) First of all we try to stay at a great depth of +10 m
2) We return underwater as close as possible to the exit point.
3) Deposit all metal equipment on the bottom
4) We surface and swim without raising our hands up because they act as antennas.
5) We look for a safe place until the storm passes. Inside a car is the safest place
6) After the storm has passed and if we are “trained”, we search and find our equipment

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