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Video Shows Sailboat In South Boston Getting Struck By Lightning

SOUTH BOSTON (CBS) – There is a 1 in 1,000 chance that your boat gets struck by lightning each year, according to BoatUS Magazine.

On Saturday, Drew Plominski's boat was that one.

He had spent about a year preparing the boat for the Marblehead to Halifax race, a 360 mile sailboat race that began on Sunday morning – but on Saturday afternoon, Mother Nature had other plans.

A violent strike of lightning hit his boat while it was parked at the Columbia Yacht Club docks in South Boston. He had been working on it all day, but friends had convinced him to take a break for lunch. "We had been on the boat just 20 minutes before, and if it wasn't for my friends I would've stayed on board," Plominski told WBZ.

The moment was captured on video by one of his friends at the Yacht Club. "Somebody called me a minute later and said, 'I don't know If you heard that lightning but it hit your boat,'" he explained.

Plominski was part of a five-person crew that planned to ride the 360 miles to Nova Scotia before the lightning ruined the race for them. Some of his crew had traveled from the West Coast to do the race.

Perseverance
Perseverance was struck by lightning in South Boston (WBZ-TV)

After the dramatic strike, "Perseverance" – the boat – is staying true to its name, floating in the South Boston Harbor with major electrical but no structural damage. "It looks like [the electricity] all went out through the propeller shaft and ended up in the water instead of blowing a hole through the side of the boat or something like that," Plominski said.

He hasn't attempted to drive the boat yet and is waiting to hear back from his insurance company to find out what happens next.

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