New a guy, a commercial clammer, got whacked by lightning on the boat... didn't kill him but was never was the same after that,

I've been on the bay numerous times in lightning storms, it's not a comforting feeling......

I have read up on lightening striking boats and in Florida they install lightening rods on their boats that ground a strike. I considered doing it but not much boating lately!

My uncle was known as "Hole in One Bob". He and my dad were golfing one day. My dad was about 15 feet from the cup. My uncle about 1. My dad was lining up his shot as my uncle removed the flag. My dad said he dropped it to the side of the hole and as it hit the ground a lightning bolt came out of a bluebird clear sky and hit the flag. My uncle was thrown back about 20 feet. My dad about 5. He said it was more the concussion of the blast than the electricity that threw him. He ran over to my uncle who was laying there like,,,,,, well he got hit by lightning. There was a huge hole and scorch mark where the bolt hit. The ambulance showed up and took my uncle to the hospital. My dad gathered up their clubs and stuff to take back to the house and tell the family what was happening. He look all over for my uncles ball and eventually found it at the bottom of the cup. My dad marked his scorecard with a "1", and left. When he told my uncles about it he refused to recognize it as a hole in one.

When my uncle died a few years later the golf course put the flag sans the pin, the ball, and his score card in his casket. They also renamed the hole "Bob's shockingly hard par 3".

Did you hear the squeal? Almost every close lightning strike I've experienced I heard a brief, high-pitched squeal a second or two before the crash. I think it's the sound of the air being torn.

A few years ago me and my crew were building a garage. A summer storm rolled in quick. By the time we climbed down out of the rafters it was pouring rain and the wind was howling. I was the last one in the truck because I stopped to shut the genny off. As soon as I slammed the door shut I heard the squeal and a tree thirty feet from the truck exploded a second later. I'm thankful none of us were on the ground.