Diving and lightning

[brian_dixon]

Thanks to everyone that helped anwser my question.

 

[Diver0001]

....snip....

I have never heard of of anyone being struck, but I would hate to be first.

Got that right. It would give a whole new meaning to the phrase "THAR SHE BLOWS..."

R..

 

[junior diver]

It was in Calafornia, I found it on a diving site, too long to write down but here is the report.

NEXT TIME YOU THINK YOU ARE HAVING A BAD DAY:

Fire authorities in California found a corpse in a burned out
section of forest while assessing the damage done by a forest fire.
The deceased male was dressed in a full wet suit, complete with SCUBA
tanks on his back, flippers, and face mask.

A post-mortem revealed that the person died not from burns, but from
massive internal injuries. Dental records provided a positive
identification. Investigators then set about to determine how a fully
clad diver ended up in the middle of a forest fire. It was revealed
that, on the day of the fire, the person went for a diving trip off
the coast some 20 miles away from the forest. The firefighters,
seeking to control the fire as quickly as possible, called in a fleet
of helicopters with very large dip buckets. Water was dipped from the
ocean then flown to the forest fire and emptied. You guessed it. One
minute our diver was making like Flipper in the Pacific, the next he
was doing the breast stroke in a fire dip bucket 300 feet in the air.
Apparently he extinguished exactly 5'-10" of the fire.

 

[Don Burke]

It was in Calafornia, I found it on a diving site, too long to write down but here is the report.

NEXT TIME YOU THINK YOU ARE HAVING A BAD DAY:

Fire authorities in California found a corpse in a burned out
section of forest while assessing the damage done by a forest fire.
The deceased male was dressed in a full wet suit, complete with SCUBA
tanks on his back, flippers, and face mask.

A post-mortem revealed that the person died not from burns, but from
massive internal injuries. Dental records provided a positive
identification. Investigators then set about to determine how a fully
clad diver ended up in the middle of a forest fire. It was revealed
that, on the day of the fire, the person went for a diving trip off
the coast some 20 miles away from the forest. The firefighters,
seeking to control the fire as quickly as possible, called in a fleet
of helicopters with very large dip buckets. Water was dipped from the
ocean then flown to the forest fire and emptied. You guessed it. One
minute our diver was making like Flipper in the Pacific, the next he
was doing the breast stroke in a fire dip bucket 300 feet in the air.
Apparently he extinguished exactly 5'-10" of the fire.

myth
http://www.snopes.com/horrors/freakish/scuba.htm

 

[Barracuda2]

Personally, one of he coolest night dives I ever did was during a thunder storm off Belize. Each flash just lit up the entire reef then plunged back into darkness. We turned off our lights to get the full effect. The storm came up after we were already under. No body got excited when the flashes started, so we just finished the dive. By the time we were done, the storm had passed.

Barracuda2

 

[Bob3]

Urban legend? Bah, humbug: http://www.firediving.com/

 

[headhunter]

Urban legend? Bah, humbug: http://www.firediving.com/

I'm glad someone had the free time to create that site. It's pretty funny!

Christian

 

[yknot]

You'd have to be really unlucky! The chances of getting hurt but lightning while diving would have to so small that it's hardly worth considering.

It's not like we can vote on whether or not this is dangerous or assign some rules that will override nature. The truth is that people, in general, being struck by lightning is rather rare considering how often science says lightning strikes earth. The severity of the strike in the water would be dependant on water chemistry, size of the body of water and the strength of the strike itself. An electrictin I dive with has said that he thinks you could get zapped at 100'. A lot of the diving around me is in quarries. One good strike in the middle and probably everyone in the quarry could feel it. One of the possible effects of being struck would be to loose consciousness- not a good thing underwater. I've surfaced after a dive to threatening skies and been concerned about having a large steel tank sticking up out of the water. I wouldn't get in the water if there were thunderstorms present.

 

[dweeb]

.......you are much safer underwater IF you are not towing a dive flag at the time.

That's my thought. The electrons want to take the easiest route to ground. Fresh water is actually a good insulator, compared to your salty body. Salt water is a better conductor than your body is. Either way, if you're not near the surface OR the bottom, and the water is deep, you're not the easiest path.
I've been diving with while holding a 600 volt cable with a bare end, learning to arc weld underwater - and yes, it's REALLY hard to maintain a proper gap. The one thing they told us was to make sure the ground clamp was connected well in front of you, so you never accidentally got between your work and your ground.

 

[diverunner]

Hi everyone
I've been reading a lot of the discussions on this board and it is very interesting and informing. I've been diving for a few years now and I have asked this question to a few people and still haven't got a solid answer.
What do you do when you're 35 feet deep and you notice lightning above????
I don't know if I should get out as fast as I can or go deep and try to wait it out or what???/
What do you think??