By Charles Plueddeman82 | BOATINGMAG.COM | JANUARY 2018OFF MY DOCKT
hey say lightning never strikes twice, but when it strikes my good
friend Chuck Larson, the story gets told over and over again, and
never gets old.
Chuck really was in a boat that was electrified by a bolt from
the heavens. A little later he showed up at
the Lake View Inn wearing a T-shirt reading
“One in a Million” as a conversation starter
that would allow him to retell his tale of sur-
vival, but the statement turned out to be too
vague. That’s the kind of shirt little kids give
Grandpa on his birthday.
And the odds are actually 1 in 1.083 mil-
lion in any given year, according the National
Weather Service. Sounds like a long shot,
but in an 80-year life span those odds increase to 1 in 13,500, which seems
more probable. You are just asking for trouble if you spend that lifetime
on the water because 34 percent of those struck by lightning are engaged
in water-related activities, like boating and fishing, as compared to rela-
tively safe sports, like golf (14 percent). If you spend a lifetime on the water
in Florida, good luck getting life insurance. The “Sunshine” State records
more lightning strikes than any other — 20.8 per square mile annually — andmore fatalities — 54 since 2007 and
counting. That makes me feel pretty
safe in Wisconsin — eight deaths
since 2007 — and willing to visit
Tennessee, where only two light-
ning fatalities have occurred in that
same period.
In fact, an impoundment of the
Little Tennessee River was the site
of the lightning strike that nailed
Chuck some 20 years ago. Chuck
and his cousin, Andy, and two bikini-
clad friends were back in a cove when
they heard thunder and rightly decid-
ed to head for home port, but when
they wheeled out onto the main
lake, they discovered the storm was
almost upon them and coming from
the direction of home. Plan B was to
motor to a big marina around the next
bend, but as they approached those
docks, a huge bolt crashed down right
on the bait-shop roof. Yipes! A second
later, Chuck says there was a bright
flash, and he felt himself rise about
2 feet off the boat seat.
They might all be dead, except
they had the good fortune to be
in Andy’s MasterCraft MariStar
equipped with a ski pylon that acted
like a lightning rod and channeled
the strike to the bronze tracking
fins and from there, I guess, into the
water. It blew a hole in the bottom
of the boat. Everyone was dazed, but
other than some first-degree burns,
there were no injuries.
I am not making this up. Chuck
has photos, which he’ll show you if
you ask about his new T-shirt, which
reads “Lightning Survivor.” But
don’t ask. We don’t want to hear the
story again.Yipes! A second later,
Chuck says there was a
bright flash, and he
felt himself rise about
2 feet off the boat seat.ONE IN A MILLION
Weather on the waterBOATING (ISSN 0006-5374) (USPS 504-810), January 2018, Volume 91, No. 1. ©2017. Boating is published monthly, except July/August and November/December, by Bonnier Corp., 460 N. Orlando
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receive a corrected address within one year.ILLUSTRATION: TIM BOWER; PHOTO: MABEL PLUEDDEMAN