Purposely sailing a sunfish in a thunderstorm...

Next it would hit your zipper.

If you didn't have a zipper, it would just go for anywhere else on you. Your feet are in the wet cockpit, your bailer is open, your hand is on a wet tiller, splashed with salt water with the other end down in the water.
 
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It would just be a puff of smoke and that's all. "That's all" as in you'd be a goner. But I've been tempting by the same myself whilst watching these late afternoon storms down here on the Gulf Coast.
 
Hhhmmmm I don't know. If you put a large cable from the base of the mast, down into the water, then the lightning bolt might not kill you. The mast might act like a lightning rod and prevent your zipper from getting zapped. BUT you'd still have to contend with the 50mph+ winds that come with a good squall on the Gulf.... which means that you'd have a tough time staying upright for more than maybe 15 seconds or so.

My guess is that you'd sail into the storm right up to the point where you capsized. Then you'd hold onto the boat until the storm passed.... at which point you'd either get eaten by a Sharknado, die of hypothermia, OR (most likely) just right your boat after the storm and feel rather stupid.... or bob up and down in the water until the Marine Police came and fished you out. Either way it doesn't seem like much fun, but it might make a good u-Tube video.

So.... my recommendation is to go for it. We'll all be watching from the dock and yelling encouraging things to you as you fight off the Sharknados.
 
I would imagine it would be definitely thrilling but is it wise?
I assume you are not serious, but if you are, I guess if you consider getting electrocuted and incinerated thrilling, then you should go for it. The Darwinawards.com page should be notified before you head out (darwinawards.com) and when I watch the video of you getting hit I will probably laugh so hard my cone dislodges!!
 
All,
A few years ago I had a close encounter with a lightning filled line squall on a lake in Michigan while sailing a Super Porpoise (Sunfish clone.) I wrote it up and published it in an on-line small boat magazine called Durkworks. Here in the link if you want to read it: http://www.duckworksmagazine.com/07/columns/guest/glos.htm Suffice it to say the incident got my full attention.

Alan Glos
Cazenovia. NY
 
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Assuming the lightning didn't kill you (a woefully poor assumption), just imagine what the thunderclap would sound like from a distance of 5 feet...
 
I assume the boat would be destroyed if hit by lightning. Even if you survived (unlikely) the boat would be in pieces and you would have a long swim to shore.
 
I assume the boat would be destroyed if hit by lightning. Even if you survived (unlikely) the boat would be in pieces and you would have a long swim to shore.
Most likely outcome. Interesting piece, saying there's really no way to prepare: MARINE LIGHTNING PROTECTION: Getting Z-Z-Z-Zapped on a Sailboat - Sailfeed

I've had lightning strike within 25-feet of me (!) on two occasions. The first, while about to depart my van's driver seat, and manually closing the sunroof. Experiencing that powerful blast caused my arm to retract so violently, it still hurts 30 years later. As I've written elsewhere:

1) The first time was during a tropical storm, when I'd just touched a concrete parking bumper, and a lightning bolt struck the corner of the one-story business I'd just pulled into. Being in a car, I should have gone uninjured, but I'd just reached up to close the sunroof, and the flash caused me to pull back my arm. I had a major case of "tennis-shoulder" for weeks.
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We have been warned that lightning can strike 10-miles from a storm, but I suspect that it can be much further away.
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2) The second time was on the shore of Lake Winnipesaukee. The storm had passed by a ½-hour earlier when "a bolt from the blue" suddenly struck on the opposite side of a giant Hemlock tree I was seated under. The "bang" was extremely muted by the immense size of the Hemlock, but I remember the bright flash, and that the ground shook violently once, so I returned—completely unfazed—to my typing.

It was when I wandered to the other side of the Hemlock, that I was greeted with a highly-unusual sight: the branches of the understory of trees were "decorated" everywhere with 5-inch ringlets of birchbark. Unreal.
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Looking up, I saw that "bolt-from-the-blue" had struck a 5-inch diameter paper-birch tree—whose roots led directly to the lake. The bolt's pathway had cut down one side of the tree. The steam generated by the lightning's path under the bark had cut and blasted dozens of those severed ringlets to fly away!

That was five years ago, and that birch tree is still growing well. But the "downside" was that the birch tree was only 15-feet from the Hemlock.
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3) On a hazy day, a storm appeared rather suddenly out of the west. I immediately sailed my Sunfish back home, but just quite couldn't make it. Five seconds more, and I could have been in the lee of a sturdy dock. Somewhat sheltered by the shoreline—standing in two feet of water—I nearly was forced to let go of my Sunfish, as the wind was so strong. As it was, the wind tore my racing sail, and snapped my mast. :( There was no lightning, so this "weather event" would have been called a "cell". :oops:
 
Nah I never did, I was just curious. Now what if the mast and the spars were replaced by wood. It would be safer no doubt but still not advised. I'm getting into woodworking and I'm starting a project of replacing my mast and spars to wooden ones. A wood obviously treated to weather moisture. I imagine a gust of wind filling the sails as I hear the mast and spars creak. Should be fun.

-Tristan
 
I'm not it was just said in jest and out of curiousity. As for the wooden mast and spars, I think it would be a cool project.

-Tristan
 

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