ive been out in a big lightining storm and came away un scathed..probably just my luck but i wasnt going to let a 35knot sourtheryly just pass by

a pretty good way to do a quadruple forward

sinker, kites and thunderstorms don't mix... edison figured it out first

many kiters have reported boost/jolts from static build up that occurs when thunderstorms are simply close by let alone on top of you

Your board needs to be earthed and you could wear rubber booties.

Great elephant anology - Also remember regardless of whatever material kite lines, masts etc are made from, they will generally have a coating of salty very conductive water on them.

Lightning is very non-linear and tricky to predict, as a general rule the protection coverage that something gives extends out at an angle of 60 degs to the horizontal drawn from the top of the object (thats the conservative rule of thumb used for protecting eletrical sub stations).

So if you're on the surface of the water and want to get protection from a teabag with a deathwish, make sure that if their kite is 20m up in the air, that you stay within 11.5m of them. You'll be protected from the lightning but not the kiter! Note if you've got a 4m mast up yourself, then this distance will reduce to 9.2m.

Heres advice from a website: www.tandfonline.com/action/cookieAbsent

"On the water. Swimmers, anglers, and boaters should get off lakes or rivers and seek shelter when storms approach. Drop any fishing rods. Boaters who cannot get off the water before the storm hits should crouch low. Once on land, get at least 100 yards away from shore. "

Heres another ref:
www.foremostboaters.com/safety/lightning.htm

And heres some nice pictures to inspire those that want to go onto the next life ASAP:
www.crh.noaa.gov/mkx/slide-show/tstm/slide69.html
skyflashes.com/197072903.html

Sail Safe

Matt

in that photo, it didnt hit the boat... the water near it instead, wat does that tell ya... and that boat would be a lot taller than a windsurfer.

the board is always earthed, its sitting in the salty ocean water

Hi doc jans,
Having read the article below - it sounds like your friend was very lucky, as he discharged the positive buildup when he landed - had it got to a certain point he might have been zapped big-time!

"Positive charges accumulate

As a thundercloud passes overhead, a concentration of positive charges accumulates in and on all objects below the cloud. Since these positive charges are attempting to reach the negative charge of the cloud, they tend to accumulate at the top of the highest object around.

On a boat that may be the radio antenna, the mast, a fishing rod, or even you! The better the contact an object has with the water, the more easily these positive charges can enter the object and race upward toward the negative charge in the bottom of the cloud.

When lightning occurs

Lightning occurs when the difference between the positive and negative charges, the electrical potential, becomes great enough to overcome the resistance of the insulating air and to force a conductive path between the positive and negative charges.

This potential may be as much as 100 million volts. To help you understand the magnitude of this voltage, the voltage needed in an automobile to cause a spark plug to fire is only 15 to 200 volts! And the spark plug gap is only a fraction of an inch!

On water, boats are the highest objects in lightning's immediate area

When lightning does strike, it will most often strike the highest object in the immediate area. On a body of water, that highest object is a boat. Once it strikes the boat, the electrical charge is going to take the most direct route to the water where the electrical charge will dissipate in all directions. "

I'm pretty damn sure a guy was killed by a lightning strike while windsurfing on Lake Macquarie a few years back; it was in the paper and later I found out a guy I know had tried to help him.