Lightning strike on the cruising yacht sv Watermelon

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LIGHTNING STRIKE AND SAILING BACK TO SINGAPORE

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August, 1998
Well, our luck finally ran out. We got hit by lightning, August 12, 1998, at about 10 at night in the Perhentian Islands of Malaysia, just a day before we had planned to head on up to Thailand.
Electrical storms are prevalent on this coast. Two boats we know have already been hit by lightning on this coast this year, and I've been terrified of it happening to us. But it was still a shock when it happened. The day had been pretty quiet, about an hour or so earlier there had been a lot of wind, we could see electrical activity to the SW of us. But nothing came of it as it passed to the south of us. The actual strike was practically a bolt out of the blue. No electrical activity around us, just this single bolt of lightning that hit our mast, setting off blue sparks and lots of light. "Oh, Shit!" shouted Peter, "we've been hit by lightning!" Rather spectacular, the mast lit up, sparks shot out everywhere. And then the rain came down in buckets while we scurried around making sure we were going to stay afloat and Peter tried to assess the damage. Checked through-hulls to be sure that none of them had been blown and were letting buckets of water into the boat - that, at least, didn't happen.

Damage assessment. Our radios are gone - both the SSB and the VHF radios (the VHF is brand new); and the all-band radio receiver is behaving most peculiarly - we can't turn it off. The VHF antenna, on the top of the mast, has been blown away, the TV antenna is burned out. Wind Generator is burned out and the autopilot is working sporadically, which may mean that it is also terminal, and most importantly, our instruments are gone - no depth sounder or wind instruments, no nav lights. We had a Man Overboard strobe hanging by its lanyard in our aft lazarette, something in the lightning turned it on even though it is a battery-operated unit unattached to anything in the boat -magnetic resonance? - it won't turn off, so that needs replacing.

Surprisingly, both GPS's are okay. All the electrical stuff in the forward cabin was non-functional - both lights and the fan, but Peter replaced the fuse and that's okay. The bilge alarm and bilge switch are both fried. The refrigerator may or may not be working properly. The light in the head is working better than it ever has. And the alternators seem to be okay.

This is expensive, at least $8,000 worth if we have to replace the autopilot, not including haul-out to replace the depth sounder transducer, and assuming there is no structural damage - a real worry. Had this happened six or eight months later than this, we would consider getting one of the new satellite telephones that are the coming thing. But now we have to make some hard decisions. The instruments are a hassle - rewiring new wind instruments from the mast is a lot of trouble, and we need to be hauled to replace the depth sounder and assess what other damage might have occurred.

The radios are unfortunate, but we can survive without them, and we have a hand-held VHF for emergency use. The instruments are another story. Although we can sail without the wind instruments, it will be more difficult until we can replace them, and we will have to be much more conservative. But I do not like navigating without the depth sounder - it makes everything very difficult - sounding our way into a doubtful anchorage, Peter's ability to estimate how much rode to put out when we set the anchor, just the uncertainty of what's down there. Prudence dictated that we return to Singapore immediately and get things fixed - who knows how long or how difficult it will be to replace everything?

We will have to reassess our lightning protection measures. Peter had put fuses on the negative side of all our electronics, but the damage came through the ground. How we are going to protect ourselves from that is our newest project. Whoopee.

We had just been congratulating ourselves on the financial and psychological benefits of cruising this coast - we were spending so little money and doing so much swimming and moving around - and now this - blew our budget in one fell swoop, and cut short a most enjoyable cruise. This is a great place, but we didn't want to go into unknown waters without a depth sounder, which we consider our most important navigation instrument. As clear as the water is here, it's just not worth the risk, we've already had one grounding on coral. What an unfortunate end to a near perfect cruise (well, we could have done with a bit more wind, but that's just nit-picking). Sort of puts a damper in one's spirits.

Now the expensive part starts.

We still think this is a great cruising ground, and hope to return here next year - with a bit more protection, perhaps. Or maybe some good luck charms.

Early the morning of Thursday, August 13, we left the Perhentian Islands and headed for Redang Island. We arrived in late afternoon, and went ashore to ask about facilities to help us. I spoke with the duty manager of the Berjaya Redang Resort, Gurcheran ("Gootch"), explained that our boat had been hit by lightning and that we needed to contact a few people, and was it possible for me to send and receive e-mail from there. He said that it would be no problem, he was happy to help. There was only one secure telephone line to the mainland, but if I brought my computer into his office I was welcome to use it.

And so the next morning, I went in with my computer and sent out messages to people - Rebak Marina yachts to find out if we could be hauled there, people at home to let them know that we were okay but things were going on, other yachties who are the best source of information and help, and the insurance company who may or may not be able to help. I made one last check with e-mail on Tuesday, the 18th - that gave them the previous Friday, and Monday, to answer me, and of course, as usual, the insurance company never answered my e-mail. That is pretty typical of these people. I'm not particularly impressed with them, and think that we are going to start looking for another agent. They are very good at writing policies, but not very good at answering questions about claims. All told, I bothered the resort office for e-mail three times. The first session was very, very long because I had something like 39 messages stacked up. We ate ashore one meal each day, in part to repay the resort for being so nice to us, though how does one fully repay kindness? We were most impressed with the resort and its employees, and would like to come back and spend more time here. We were able to get water, do our laundry, and explore some while we waited for the weekend to be over and I had a chance of getting a reply to my messages. And to settle ourselves. We never heard from the insurance agent.

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