: I was out on the water on a nice sunny day when I heard what seemed
: like a distant rumble behind me. I turned the boat to take a
: look-see, and there was this huge, incredibly dark cloud visibly
: building and directly upwind of me. I only had about a mile to
: get to the ramp and a hundred feet to the car but while I was
: getting ready to put my little solo canoe on the car roof there
: was a monstrous thunderclap behind me and a simultaneous flash
: that seemed to be all around me. I abandoned the boat and was
: inside the car in about one second; I don't know if it struck
: the water as I had my back to the lake at the time, but I was
: glad my head wasn't poking up a mile offshore more-or-less
: saying "hit me" at that moment . . .

: I have never seen a storm appear so quickly. I waited it out in the
: car: I was afraid the poor canoe - which only weighs 10 kg -
: might vanish downwind but it stayed put. BTW, the forecast was
: for sunny intervals with scattered showers later in the day.

: I doubt the storm had much to do with the lake I was on - much too
: small - but Lake Huron is only a couple or hours drive and I was
: directly downwind that day.

Lightning can do nasty things. I once went to look at a heck of a deal on a 40 something ft. sailboat that was offered really cheap. It took a lightning bolt to the mast and the mast wasn't grounded (pretty common on production boats). The heat generated by that strike boiled almost all the resin out of the fiberglass, was just glass left with just enough resin so the thing didn't fall apart. Couldn't figure out any good way to fix the thing, even though the price was about 20% of the boat's worth, so I passed on it.

If it'll boil out the resin on a 40,000 lb. sailboat, guess what it'll do to you, or your kayak.

Bill H.