lightning class sailboat rigging

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Lightning Class Supporters

VIDEO: Expert insight for Lightning rigging

Published on August 18th, 2014 by Editor -->

2013 Lightning World Champion David Starck provides a tour of the rigging on his new Lightning. Published on Aug 15, 2014.

Tags: David Starck , Lightning

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Getting the Charge Out of Lightning

No matter how well protected the boat may be, few manage to escape unscathed..

Miraculously, relatively few people are injured in lightning strikes. Frequently, of course, no one is aboard the boat when it is struck, and it is only by after-the-fact detective work that the extent of damage is discovered.

There are, however, two attendant bits of unpleasantness water, and contaminates like dirt, dust, rust, scale, bugs, and bones.

Most boat owners have only the vaguest idea of what is involved in protecting their boats from lightning damage. Many believe that their boats are already protected by the boat’s grounding system. Most are wrong.

Just because your boat may be bonded with heavy cop-per conductors connecting the masses of metal in the boat doesn’t mean that it is protected against lightning. A bon-ding system may be a part of a lightning protection system, but bonding itself offers no protection to the boat unless a good, direct path to ground is part of the system.

The purpose of bonding is to tie underwater metal masses in the boat together to reduce the possibility of galvanic corrosion caused by dissimilar metals immersed in an electrolyte. The purpose of lightning grounding is to get the massive electrical charge of a lightning strikethrough the boat to ground with the least possible amount of resistance.

Most lightning never reaches the earth: it is dispersed between clouds of different electrical potential. The lightning that concerns sailors is the discharge of electricity between a cloud and the surface of the earth, or an object on the surface of the earth, namely, your boat. The amount of electricity involved in lightning can be, well, astronomical. We’re talking about millions of volts.

Granted, the duration of a lightning strike is extremely short. But in the fraction of a second it takes for lightning to pass through your boat to ground, a great deal of damage can be done. And here’s the kicker. No matter how elaborate your lightning protection system, there is no guarantee that a lightning strike will not damage your boat.

Certainly you can reduce the potential damage from a lightning strike. That’s what protection is all about. But to think you can eliminate the possibility of damage is folly. There are too many recorded instances of so-called properly lightning-protected boats suffering damage to believe in the infallibility of lightning protection systems.

The goal of lightning protection is to offer a low resistance path to ground, in this case, the water. On a sailboat equipped with an aluminum mast and stainless steel standing rigging, the basic components of the lightning protection system are in place.

While neither aluminum nor stainless steel is an outstanding electrical conductor, the large cross-sectional area of both the mast and the rigging provide adequate conductivity for lightning protection. The trick, however, is get-ting the electricity from the mast and rigging to the water.

The straighter the path is from conductor (mast and rigging) to ground, the less likely are potentially dangerous side flashes. Put simply, side flashes are miniature lightning bolts which leap from the surface of the conductor to adjacent metal masses due to the difference in electrical potential between the charged conductor and the near by mass of metal. Ideally, therefore, the path from the bottom of the mast and rigging to ground would be absolutely vertical. In practice, this is rarely achieved.

If the boat has an external metal keel, the mast and standing rigging is frequently grounded to a keelbolt. There are pitfalls to this method. First, the connection between the bottom of the mast and rigging to the keelbolt must be highly conductive. ABYC (American Boat and Yacht Council) standards say that each primary conductor for lightning protection systems should have a resistance equal to or less than a #4 AWG copper conductor. (Secondary conductors should have resistance not greater than a #6 AWG copper conductor.)There is no drawback to using an even larger conductor.

Connecting the short conductor to the mast and keelbolt presents some problems. A crimp eye can be used on the end that is to be attached to the mast, but you may have to fabricate a larger eye for attachment to the keelbolt. This can be made from sheet copper. Soldering the connections is not recommended, since the heat generated in a lightning strike could melt the solder.

Then you have to face up to a basic problem. Your mast is aluminum, yet you’re connecting it to ground with a copper cable. Everyone knows that aluminum and copper are not galvanically compatible, so what’s the solution? While it will not eliminate corrosion, a stainless steel washer placed between the copper cable’s end fitting and the aluminum mast will at least retard it. But this connection is going to require yearly examination to make sure that a hole isn’t being eaten through the mast. In addition, of course, the process of corrosion creates wonderful aluminum oxide byproducts, which have very low conductivity. The aluminum oxide may reduce conductivity to the point where your theoretical attachment to ground is in fact non-existent. Once again, disassembling the connection and cleaning it yearly are essential to maintain conductivity. Constant attention to all the conductor connections is essential in any grounding system, whether it’s for lightning protection or grounding of the electrical system.

Even if all the connections in the system are flawless, you’re faced with getting the electrical charge out of the boat and into the water. Keels are always coated with bottom paint. Depending on the type of bottom paint used, the keel itself may be a fairly poor ground. An iron keel properly primed with epoxy mastic before bottom paint is applied is fairly well isolated from the water. If it weren’t, it would rust. The same goes for lead keels prepared in the same way. In practice, the electrical charge will probably be powerful enough to get to ground through the protection system on the keel. The same problem exists, of course, on painted metal boats with their systems of barrier coats. The barrier coats reduce conductivity, but do not eliminate it.

Do not under any circumstances ground the rigging or mast to ballast located inside a fiberglass hull shell. The electrical charge tends to travel on the surface of the conductor. Finding no path to ground from the isolated inside ballast, you may literally blow a line of holes through the hull along the top of the ballast line. Surveyors have reported occurrences of this type of damage to us, as strange as it may sound.

For boats with inside ballasting, or for powerboats, some type of external grounding plate is required. These are usually made from sintered bronze: tiny particles of bronze fused into a porous block. The effect is to give a much larger surface area than defined by the dimensions of the block itself. It is very important to use as large aground plate as necessary, and to position it as close to vertically in line with the primary lightning conductor (the mast) as possible.

Racing boats are not going to be willing to do this, since a ground plate creates a fair amount of drag in light air. Cruisers would be advised to trade off the drag for the protection offered.

A grounding plate installation is not a nail-it-in-place-and-forget-it installation. As with any bare metal underwater, oxides build up in the grounding plate, reducing its efficiency. The manufacturer of the plate can tell you the proper remedies, which may include removing the plate yearly and treating it in an acid bath to restore proper conductivity.

It is probably a poor practice to use the same grounding plate for lightning grounding and grounding of electronics such as Loran. If the lightning charge is too great for the plate to instantaneously transmit to ground, the charge may travel back through the ground wire to your electronics, with disastrous results.

For this article in its entirety please click the below link…

Getting the Charge Out of Lightning   

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Rigging - halyards, sheets, and wires.

West Coast Sailing has a full range of designs for all Lightning running and standing rigging which can be built to order in our rig shop. Email our team at [email protected] to learn more . Products coming to our online store Spring 2022.

Rigging Diagram

Use the diagram below to reference Harken part numbers to appropriate application on your Lightning sailboat. Parts recommendations are offered as a guide for common applications.

Adjustable Ball bearing Lead Car

Upgrading to an adjustable lead car system allows you to change your lead under sail without having to tack to unload the car. The Micro CB traveler cars are very small and lightweight, but strong—perfect for the Lightning.

Belowdeck Vang System

This split boom vang lets you easily adjust the vang from both sides while hiking. The 24:1 purchase uses lightweight Carbo blocks for the power needed to control sail shape without adding weight to the boat. The cascading system uses small high-tech line to help keep everything clean above deck.

Diagram provided by Harken. West Coast Sailing is an approved seller of Harken sailboat hardware.

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International Lightning Class Association

Class contact information.

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Class Email

Class Website

One-Design Class Type: Dinghy

Was this boat built to be sailed by youth or adults? Both

Approximately how many class members do you have? 1600

Photo Credit:Douglas Wake

Photo Credit: Art Petrosemolo

About International Lightning Class Association

The Lightning truly excels as an affordable racing boat. The rig is simple but offers sophisticated sail shape controls. The hull features a unique hard chine design that combines the stability that provides sail-carrying power, with flat bottom sections that promote planing. At 700 pounds all up, the trailerable centerboard sloop is tough enough to avoid frequent breakdowns, but light enough to plane wildly on the reaches. Membership is diverse with sailors aged 8 to 80+. Many families sail together at top events and it is common to see females make up at least 40% of competitors.

The Lightning is sailed in more than thirteen countries and in the Pan American Games. A World, Master World and Youth World Championships are held every two years. North American, South American and European Championships are held each year as are innumerable regional and District championships. Major regattas attract some of the finest sailors in the world, but you find Class members friendly and the sailmakers’ complete tuning guides helpful at getting you up to speed in a hurry.

The International Lightning Class Association is one of the oldest and best organized class associations in sailboat racing. Its primary purpose is to serve its membership, preserve the integrity of the Lightning and provide high-quality competitive events. In addition, the Lightning Class publishes monthly e-blasts and a quarterly newsletter Flashes with up-to-date regatta news, boat brokerage and ideas on how to get the most out of your Lightning. The professionally managed association and dedicated volunteers are always on hand to assist both current and potential members.

If you’re looking for a boat you can be proud to sail, one that offers dinghy handling with the performance of a sport boat, a refined design that’s free of fads, complete with the technology of today for both racing and day sailing – look at the Lightning.

Boats Produced: 15630+

Class boat builder(s):

Allen Boat Company, Buffalo, NY: https://www.allenboatco.com/

WindRider International: https://www.windrider.com/

Approximately how many boats are in the USA/North America? 11,000+

Where is your One-Design class typically sailed in the USA? List regions of the country:

East of the Mississippi, Mid-West, Texas, Denver, San Diego, Pacific Northwest Click Here for Fleet Finder Map: https://www.lightningclass.org/content.aspx?page_id=451&club_id=93488

Does this class have a spinnaker or gennaker? Yes

How many people sail as a crew including the helm?  3

Ideal combined weight of range of crew:  490

Boat Designed in  1938

Length (feet/inches): 19’0″

Beam: 6’6″

Weight of rigged boat without sails: 700 lbs

Draft: (board down): 4’11”, (board up): 5″

Mast Height: 26’2″

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Lightning sailboat rigging

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I recently purchased a lightning sailboat. I live in Missouri and there are no fleets that I know of. The boat is in pretty good shape except for the rigging, mainly the ropes. I have been sailing for several years and understand the basics of rigging, but I guess because this is a racing boat, it has lots of ropes and rigging I have never seen. Lot of the lines are rotten and not hooked to anything which makes it harder to replace them. I have looked online for some diagrams but never found any to help. Are there any lightning owners that I could maybe email some photos and ask a couple questions? Or does anybody have a source for a good rigging guide.  

Lightning Tuning Guide | North Sails

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Lightning Details

The International Lightning Class is a 1938 Sparkman and Stephens design. This active racing class has grown to nearly 15,000 boats. The quality, performance and speed of the Nickels Lightnings are proving themselves for hundreds of current owners including North American and World Championship skippers. Why not join them with the confidence that you are buying the best there is?

The Nickels Lighting features a new hull and deck. The hull design maximizes down wind speed while preserving upwind performance, while the new rolled deck affords greater comfort when hiking in addition to our optimization of control line location. The new deck also provides for increased interior room for crew and skipper. We have also included a new location for fine tuning of the backstay. This new deck is stiffer insuring durability and strength.

Fully rigged w/ stainless steel centerboard: $24,995

A new Nickels custom race equipped Lightning includes:

• Lightning Class Number—royalty and measurement certificate (from the class)
• One color hull—one color deck New style rubrail white or black
• Harken Equipment— Carbo blocks now standard
• Mainsheet swivel with hexaratchet Jib sheet—Custom NBW jib car
• Spinnaker guy and sheet Ratchamatic Jib uphaul—6 to 1
• Twing lines with guy hooks Jib cloth—2 to 1
• All block Boomvang 22 to 1 Backstay—8 to 1
• NBW mast all lines internal Cunningham—4 to 1
• Mainsheet bridle—Winward sheeting type, pull down
• Centerboard hoist—10 to 1
• Dual side controls—for backstay, mainsheet bridle, boomvang & cunningham with color coded lines.
• 360 degree swivel cleat—on centerboard hoist 2 Hinged transom bailers
• 3 padded hiking straps (your choice of color)
• Large storage compartments in both cross seats
• Lifting bridle
• Nickels aluminum mast, boom, spinnaker pole and tiller with extension

Color Options: White is standard but for modest charge we customize for your color and striping

Rigging Options: There are numerous options. Give us your specifications and we will customize a price proposal for you.

Sails: Sails by North, Quantum and Vermont Sailing Partners. Current prices less 10% with new boat purchase. Covers are available from all manufacturers on request.

Also Available: Trailer - $1895 Spare Tire - $90.00 Aft Kick Stand - $35.50 (installed) Spare Tire Bracket - $37.50 (installed) 4 Stanchions - $449.00

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ELEVATE YOUR LIGHTNING SAILING

Get ready to conquer the waves with North Sails and the Lightning class! North Sails offers a range of high-performance sails designed with innovative technology that will propel you to new heights of speed and fun. Whether you're looking for the perfect mainsail, jib, or spinnaker, North Sails has you covered. With our expertise and commitment to the Lightning Class for decades, trust us to provide you with the ultimate competitive advantage. Join the ranks of Lightning sailors who rely on North Sails to dominate the racecourse. Elevate your sailing experience and make your mark in the Lightning class with North Sails by your side.

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LIGHTNING TUNING GUIDE

Welcome to the Lightning Tuning Guide from North Sails – your ticket to sailing success and having a blast on the water! Whether you're a seasoned sailor or just starting out, this guide is packed with tips and tricks to help you fine-tune your J/80 and sail like a pro.

Welcome to the Lightning Tuning Guide from North Sails – your ticket to sailing success and having a blast on the water! Whether you're a seasoned sailor or just starting out, this guide is packed with tips and tricks to help you fine-tune your J/80 and sail like a pro. Get ready to unleash the full potential of your Lightning, make those exhilarating maneuvers, and leave your competition in your wake.

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Jeff hayden, samuel albrecht, torkel borgstrom.

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One-Design Showcase

About the DN Iceboat

The Lightning offers a combination of performance and stability that eludes most one-designs. The Lightning’s hard chine and 130 lb centerboard give her the stability and power of a small keel boat going to weather in strong winds and allow her to carry a very large spinnaker for breathtaking off wind rides. The Lightning’s rig is simple, but offers sophisticated sail shape controls. 

Our 19-foot trailerable centerboard sloop has evolved into one of the most popular and competitive one-design racing classes in the world. Awarded ISAF International Class status, the Lightning is sailed in more than 13 countries and in the Pan American Games, and the class provides a professionally-managed association that is among the largest in all of one-design sailing. 

If you’re looking for a boat you can be proud to sail, one that offers dinghy handling with the performance of a sportboat, a refined design that’s free of fads, complete with the technology of today for both racing and daysailing – Get The Best Of Both Worlds. Get into a Lightning.

Class Information:

Class Contact:  Laura Jeffers, Executive Secretary

Class Contact Email:   [email protected]

Class Contact Phone:   727-942-7969

Class Website:   lightningclass.org

Social Media:   Facebook  |  Twitter  |  Instagram  |  Youtube  

Class Specs

LOA:  19 ft. 

Beam:  6 ft. 6 in. 

Draft:  4 ft. 11 in. 

Weight:  700 lbs. 

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• Sailboat Guide

Lightning is a 18 ′ 11 ″ / 5.8 m monohull sailboat designed by Sparkman & Stephens and built by Nickels Boat Works, Inc., Skaneateles Boat & Canoe Co., Helms - Jack A. Helms Co., Siddons & Sindle, Lippincott Boat Works, J.J. Taylor and Sons Ltd., Lockley Newport Boats, Eichenlaub Boat Co., Mobjack Manufacturing Corp., Clark Boat Company, Allen Boat Co., and Loftland Sail-craft Inc. starting in 1938.

Rig and Sails

Auxilary power, accomodations, calculations.

The theoretical maximum speed that a displacement hull can move efficiently through the water is determined by it's waterline length and displacement. It may be unable to reach this speed if the boat is underpowered or heavily loaded, though it may exceed this speed given enough power. Read more.

Classic hull speed formula:

Hull Speed = 1.34 x √LWL

Max Speed/Length ratio = 8.26 ÷ Displacement/Length ratio .311 Hull Speed = Max Speed/Length ratio x √LWL

Sail Area / Displacement Ratio

A measure of the power of the sails relative to the weight of the boat. The higher the number, the higher the performance, but the harder the boat will be to handle. This ratio is a "non-dimensional" value that facilitates comparisons between boats of different types and sizes. Read more.

SA/D = SA ÷ (D ÷ 64) 2/3

• SA : Sail area in square feet, derived by adding the mainsail area to 100% of the foretriangle area (the lateral area above the deck between the mast and the forestay).
• D : Displacement in pounds.

Ballast / Displacement Ratio

A measure of the stability of a boat's hull that suggests how well a monohull will stand up to its sails. The ballast displacement ratio indicates how much of the weight of a boat is placed for maximum stability against capsizing and is an indicator of stiffness and resistance to capsize.

Ballast / Displacement * 100

Displacement / Length Ratio

A measure of the weight of the boat relative to it's length at the waterline. The higher a boat’s D/L ratio, the more easily it will carry a load and the more comfortable its motion will be. The lower a boat's ratio is, the less power it takes to drive the boat to its nominal hull speed or beyond. Read more.

D/L = (D ÷ 2240) ÷ (0.01 x LWL)³

• D: Displacement of the boat in pounds.
• LWL: Waterline length in feet

Comfort Ratio

This ratio assess how quickly and abruptly a boat’s hull reacts to waves in a significant seaway, these being the elements of a boat’s motion most likely to cause seasickness. Read more.

Comfort ratio = D ÷ (.65 x (.7 LWL + .3 LOA) x Beam 1.33 )

• D: Displacement of the boat in pounds
• LOA: Length overall in feet
• Beam: Width of boat at the widest point in feet

Capsize Screening Formula

This formula attempts to indicate whether a given boat might be too wide and light to readily right itself after being overturned in extreme conditions. Read more.

CSV = Beam ÷ ³√(D / 64)

One of the most popular one-design classes in the US since the 1940’s. But fleets also exist in other parts of the world. Although originally designed for wood planked construction, nearly all boats since the early 1960’s have been built of fiberglass. Ballast above is max weight of centerboard.

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