One of my neighbors recently entered a local dolphin tournament. Since he won the calcutta last year, he was really looking forward to fishing this tournament again.

The sun was scorching hot the first day, making the fishing challenging, as it drove the larger fish down deep away from the warm waters at the surface. After a long day of lackluster fishing, he was glad to finally be back at the dock. He and his buddies salted and rigged ballyhoo for the next day as the sultry conditions created huge up-drafts that quickly produced large cloud formations over the Keys. Loud rumbles of thunder could be heard rapidly coming their way as thunderstorm clouds intensified and the darkening sky turned ominous and threatening. They decided it was time to get off the dock and into the safety of the house as the first flashes of lightning and rain started to fill the sky.

The lightning and thunder continued to crescendo, as the storm's blustery winds whipped the nearshore waters into frothy white caps. As the deluge of rain continued to pound the boat, they all agreed they were thankful the violent storm hadn't occurred while they were still out at sea. As my neighbor looked out the window, the darkness was shattered by the flash of a bolt of lightning that exploded as it struck his boat. He watched in disbelief as the lightning arced out of the sky and struck his VHF antennae that was attached to his boat's T-top.

The intensity of the blast disintegrated the top of the antennae leaving only charred splinters of fiberglass connected to the metal base. The powerful bolt of energy also completely severed the coax cable and the chrome cable guide that had been screwed onto his Tee-top was literally blasted into oblivion. As the intense voltage continued to seek ground, it played havoc with his VHF radio, as well as all of the other electronics on-board. Amazingly, it actually blew the little buttons on the face of the VHF radio completely off, and they, too, were either vaporized or blasted into the water never to be seen again.

After the storm subsided, he turned on his batteries to see exactly how much damage Mother Nature had done. The horn immediately started blaring in protest as the switch had apparently been welded into the on-position by the violent surge of electricity. Unfortunately, the navigation, radar, and most of the console accessories were also no longer operational.

The following day he assessed the underside of the boat trying to locate where the lightning bolt had exited the boat. Fortunately there were no overt signs of any damage to his hull or fittings. It appeared the main damage was the extensive impact on the electrical and navigation systems. While he and his buddies were disappointed that they would not be able to participate in the second day of the fishing tournament, they were all thankful no one had been injured or killed.

Lightning facts: There are about 90 deaths in the United States each year. The state of Florida leads the nation in lightning deaths. The majority of lightning victims are male and preponderance of these fatalities occurs on weekends. The average bolt of lightning can carry up to a 100 million volts of electricity and can heat the air to 50,000 degrees in an instant.

Obviously, lightning is one of those forces of nature that demands your full respect. Unfortunately, lightning is so common in south Florida that many times we become immune to the danger and frequently take a cavalier attitude when it comes to deciding when we should "run away bravely." I have seen the horrific exit wounds of someone actually killed by lightning, so I can assure you I am usually the first boat high-tailing it back to safety. Let's be careful out there!

Capt. Pete Peterson welcomes comments and suggestions sent to petersonventures@aol.com.