RE: [Paddlewise] Lightning and Space Blanket

From: PeterO <rebyl_kayak_at_iprimus.com.au>
Date: Thu, 30 Oct 2003 21:51:23 +1100
Matt wrote
>avoiding the usual shelters you might seek in rain like
>overhangs, shallow caves or any other places where the
>ground current might go through you

G'day,

Thanks for that Matt - I can see your point. Especially if one was lying
against a wall under an overhang taking shelter from the rain. My phrase
'under a bank' is misleading - it was a nearly vertical bank, no overhang,
no chance of shelter.

It seems hard to have to choose between making oneself a discontinuity on a
fairly flat surface or, as you point out, a possible short circuit for
ground currents near a strike.

Given the logic of what you are saying, is it a sensible compromise to
crouch near but not against the bank? This is what I was doing though I
wasn't thinking of avoiding ground currents at the time. Do the texts give
much detail or case studies? I'll try to sketch a cross section of how I was
located. I'm assuming ground currents don't arc back out of the ground - is
that the case?

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All the best, PeterO
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Received on Thu Oct 30 2003 - 02:52:44 PST

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