"Blaauw, Niels" wrote: > - Lightning is not only dangerous when you get a direct hit. The electrical > current, leading away from the impact, can still kill you. Since a kayak is > a good insulator, I stay in the boat, on the water or on land, but do not > touch my paddle. Especially when the paddle is in your hands with one blade > touching water or land, the current may flow through your paddle and through > your body back to the ground. If caught on the water, Niels' advice to stay in the yak, without contacting the paddle, is probably the best you can do. However, no one should be deceived that "... a kayak is a good insulator ..." _in this context_. The voltages associated with lightning strikes are so enormous that they force ionization of water, making it a terrific conductor. Likewise, those voltages will ionize the molecules in your yak, making it a pretty good conductor. Making yourself as small a target as possible is probably the only realistic strategy. If the strike is quite close, you are probably toast (so to speak). -- Dave Kruger Astoria, OR *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************Received on Mon Mar 26 2001 - 05:50:18 PST
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