NavList:
A Community Devoted to the Preservation and Practice of Celestial Navigation and Other Methods of Traditional Wayfinding
Re: Will quartz watch be fried in lightning strike?
From: John A
Date: 2024 Mar 12, 11:02 -0700
From: John A
Date: 2024 Mar 12, 11:02 -0700
Well, for my own speculation, I assume that all quartz watches have some semi-conductors (probably in the form of a chip, these days) which are just as sensitive to a lightning strike on a boat as any other electronics on board. Typically such strikes DON'T fry the crew, but it is common to read about pretty much everything electronic to be lost.
Yes, we did have a cookie tin that we kept in the oven with a basic GPS with replaceable batteries, but it seemed prudent to plan for the case where no electronics survived. If I had thought about it, I definitely would have brought a mechanical watch along.
Ah well!
Luckily, we had no such problems on the voyage.
