Thunder ang lightning

At my club we 100% abandon racing/get boats off water asap if we see or hear thunder and lightning. I have no idea of the physics of lightning around a sailing dinghy but I'm nowhere near brave enough to want to get a practical example !

Originally posted by JimC My take on the RRS4 thing is that is stands absolutely

I very much agree with Jim for once.
I would hope that RRS4 still stands because if it doesn't then how long before one of us doing our rostered club duty is the subject of a law suit?

Just found another one from Australia:
http://www.thedailysail.com/dinghy/10/25616/laser-sailor-gets-struck-by-lightning

"Gosford sailor Chris Meech is recovering in Gosford Hospital after his Laser dinghy was literally blown apart by a bolt of lightning while he was sailing on Brisbane Waters on Saturday. "

Originally posted by James Bell Someone once suggested that if there was a thunderstorm directly overhead, you may be better off capsizing the boat (to reduce height) and sitting on the centerboard until the storm has passed.

I have grave doubts about this.

For something official, suggest we read this.

http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/guide/weather/severe-weather-advice/lightning

or in more detail

http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/media/pdf/i/r/Fact_sheet_No._2.pdf

What I have learned, from doing a bit of reading, is that the danger radius round storms is much wider than I had assumed. It seems that a minority of lightning bolts are from the top of the storm, not the bottom, and these can reach ground over a very wide radius - even some miles from the cloud.

Think I'm going to be much more wary in future.

Edited by JimC - 14 Jun 16 at 11:40am

Originally posted by JimC My take on the RRS4 thing is that is stands absolutely, but my opinion is legally worthless, as, I suspect, is that of other posters.

Negotiating and interpreting contracts is part of my day job.

RRS4 is a contract term. When you race you contract with the organising authority and agreeing to abide by RRS is part of the contract. That's been established in court (when one large expensive yacht hit another).

In UK law contract terms that attempt to exclude negligence are unenforceable. So if a club's conduct in running a race were found to be negligent, RRS4 is void.

Negligence, roughly speaking, is falling below a reasonable standard of care. What's reasonable? That's for a court to decide. What's reasonable for ocean racers isn't reasonable for Optimists. What's certain is that RRS4 doesn't absolve clubs of the need to exercise reasonable care in running racing. That's why RORC postponed a Fastnet start for 24 hours.

Sorry if that's unwelcome news. But if a club isn't demonstrably performing risk assessment before running racing, someone is going to have an uncomfortable time if they ever need to defend their conduct in court.