We had one moment when we were liveaboard in the US. We started with a "shakedown" cruise of about 3 weeks from the top to the bottom of the Chesapeake Bay and back again to get used to the boat and settle in. We did a longish run one day from Mobjack Bay heading north up to Deltaville in Virginia, clear and sunny but blowing a bit (F5-6) from the south. Forecast was that there were thunderstorms about and a small craft advisory was out. Well, we had a big heavy boat so this didn't bother us too much and we ran for about 5 or 6 hours in fairly lumpy water (Chesapeake is a bit like a tideless Wallet, only much much bigger
). We were quite happy with the sailing but Chesapeake thunderstorms can be nasty so there were many glances around checking for looming cumulonimbus bearing down on us.
Everything went fine though and we came within sight of the entrance to Deltaville along with a few other boats in the distance. Quite suddenly the wind dropped and the sky in front of us went this really strange colour and we realised a pretty large thunderstorm had sneaked up in front if us - must have come from SW or W I guess but it was very rapid and not apparent to us what was going on. Anyway, it was clear this was one storm we weren't going to avoid as the world in front of us just disappeared in a grey curtain, coming right at us in a line across the bay from north heading south towards us (I was reminded of The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway by Genesis, if any of you know it
).
Never having been in such a situation before our obvious concern was for a lightning strike - we were a mile from shore to the north and well clear of the western shore, but it was a bit too deep to anchor. We decided, pretty quickly, to shut the engine off (the sails were already furled ready for entering the marina), put some lights on and basically batten down and ride it out. We all went down below to stay inside what our friend Mac called "the cone of protection" i.e. inside the area bounded by the shrouds and stays. I kept the radio on and the plotter running to see where we were and kept a watch to make sure we didn't drift on to any other boat.
Then it hit us and the winds reached 45-50kts and there was lots of noise and flashes but thankfully none too close. It gave us a fantastic opportunity to see how the boat behaved lying a hull in such conditions (basically she drifted bow first downwind at about 1-1.5 knots) although the seas were pretty flat especially with the amount of rain that came down. We talked to the boys while it was going on to keep them reassured, although the main problem was it was so hot in the cabin.
Although they sneak up on you quickly these storms depart just as fast so we were out of it in about 35-40 minutes or so. We had drifted about 0.5 mile south and then a bit less than that east. We motored on into Deltaville.
We found out after we got in that a Beneteau about 3 miles to the north of us had taken a direct hit and every piece of electronic and electric equipment on board had been fried, no injuries though fortunately. Gulp.
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