TONY CHANEY
Contributor
I have decided to not let this out until I talked to my wife and my daughters who are in Japan first. To clear things up and to let others know what happened, yes Wed. I was hit by lighting. I have been diving for over 15 years with well over 700 dives to include wrecks, deep, night, fresh water, salt water, decompression, caves, hunting, etc. This day would be very different. Of all places...in my pool. The instructor and I were teaching an 18 yo student and the son of a diver that we have given intruction toward more advance classes. We noticed that there were clouds and darkness way south of us which appeared to be near the Pineville area. We were all checking our weather apps and things looked clear here in Mt. holly. So after the student finished his basic swim quals we enter the water. Me with a steel 120 cuft tank, Ryan and the student with Alum. 80's. I started to put on my boots and fins on but the instructor said that fins were not needed on this dive. So I was bare footed but they both had booties on. We decended to the bottom at 7' and started to do various drills. Around 20-30 minutes I saw a flash and asked the instructor if he saw the same thing. He said yes and we gave the sign to go up or out. We went to the steps and started our exit. Ryan was out first and running toward the shelter. I was second and just as I was going up the steps I saw the student still looking around. I yelled to him that we need to get out of here now. I looked back at the exit and grabbed the hand rail. It was at that point that I saw a very bright flash and then was slammed to the ground like never before. I had a sharp pain going down my left arm and a lot of pain from my legs from hitting the cement. I made it to the shelter uneventful. I was checking my pulse and doing a neuro check. All is well but it is something that I will never forget nor wish anyone ever goes thru. I have had some OMG moments in diving but never nothing like this. I have been hit several times in my life but nothing like this. It seemed like it almost picked me up and slammed me on the cement. So what we do not know is how the storm got there so fast, did the steel tank have a factor and if the rubber boots had a factor. I was the only one hit. It was not a direct hit but from reading on the internet it was more of a side hit which traveled across the ground. So when it starts to get dark and a strom cell starts moving in...seek shelter ASAP. I am glad that I am here to share this. It was just not my day to go.