Standing Man Struck by Lightning

Summer squalls can come up quickly
without warning and it is not unusual for boaters to be caught offshore in a lightning
storm. If you don’t have time to get back to land, what do you do? Generally lighting
will strike the highest part of your boat, so the first thing you want to make sure
of is that the highest part is not you or a passenger. Lightning strikes of occupied
boats is not common, but there have been at least two in as many weeks and now is
the season for them.

Just as these tall building are prime targets for lightning strikes, so, too, could a man standing in a boat be the highest electrode around.

Boston Herald.com--



The man who witnessed one of his best friends being struck and killed by lightning
says he saw his buddy stand up on a fishing boat during a violent thunderstorm before a bolt struck him down in a “split second.”



“It was a hell of a bang, a big bang,” said John Jonason, 66, who was just 1,000
feet away when a fellow quahogger was killed on an Orleans bay Wednesday. “It was
so bright. I couldn’t see.”



Jonason of Eastham doesn’t know why his friend, Christopher West, 41, also of Eastham,
stood up amid lightning and torrential rain on Little Pleasant Bay. The strike happened
at about 5:30 PM and the storm that preceded it moved in fast, Jonason said.



“We
were quahogging. It was nice out there with just a little breeze,” Jonason said.
“It came from no place. It came up on us so fast.”



He said they lay down in their boats to wait out the storm. Jonason was lying in
his boat when he saw a lightning bolt hit West, who was in an aluminum boat, knocking
him down. “The wind and rain was coming down so hard. I could barely see his boat,”
he said. “I didn’t have one clue why he stood up.”



After West was struck, Jonason said he tried to call 911, but his cell phone was
waterlogged. He made it to land and a rescue boat was sent for West. Jonason, who
was shivering from the cold water, was hospitalized overnight.



He said he believes West died instantly.



The lightning strike came as violent storms pounded Massachusetts yesterday morning,
causing flooding, fires and flight delays. A Medford house fire was blamed on lightning,
and a Medway church steeple was damaged by a strike. In Sandwich, a man was hospitalized
after he was knocked to the ground by lightning.



West’s father, Richard West Sr. of Ashland, said his son loved fishing. “He just
loved the Cape. He loved the beach. He loved the water. He loved his boat,” he said.
“He loved it. That was his whole life.”



Richard West said the news still hasn’t sunk in. “I was shocked that he was struck
by lightning. I was shocked that he was dead,” said Richard West, who last saw his
son two weeks ago when he visited him in Ashland.



The office of Cape & Islands
District Attorney Michael O’Keefe is investigating.
An autopsy is pending.