To truly understand lightning and make a strategy for safe sailing, the best place to start is the fine print in your insurance policy. 

All sailors are used to tacking upwind. And if you think about it, it seems fair that if you have to tack up wind, you should also have to tack down wind. But when your destination is straight down wind, it’s almost irresistible to resist the urge to aim right at it. The problem is that when it’s windy, dead down wind is dangerous, and when it’s light, it’s slow. 

In the moments after you realize you have run your boat aground, it’s best to take a deep breath and recite The First Rule of Holes: “When you’re in one, stop digging.” Many of the steps you are inclined to take can make matters worse. You may already doubt your own skills and your decision making. You’ll get a lot of advice, some of it noisy, a lot of it not grounded in experience. Chaos is lurking.