What do lightning bolts commonly strike?

Question

And in the rare cases when they strike people, what are the common causes?

Answer 1

One would think that the metallic mast of a sailboat, alone on the vast ocean, would be the ideal 'lightning attractor.'

Yet various experiments show that if the lighting is supposed to fall within a circle with a radius equal to the height of the mast, it will fall on the mast, but not otherwise.

If the mast is 'grounded' i.e. connected physically to e.g. the keel that is in the water, the 'circle of attraction' will then be one and half the height of the mast.

That is not very much, is it?

On my sailboat, I have the foot of the mast one millimeter from a copper plate connected to the a bolt of the keel. In that way, the mast is not electrically connected to the sea but if lightning strikes, it will jump the one millimeter gap like nothing. I have been sailing all my life and been in many thunderstorms. I never had a lightning strike when I was on board. But it happened once in harbour. I lost my VHF radio and ham radio tuners. But everything else was working as before.

Answer 2

Tall metallic objects, if there is nothing else metal fences TV ariels there are always lightning rods too!

Causes of a person being hit:

Holding an umbrella.

It's possible to just be touching a phone or power switch when the phone line or power lines are struck

Being wet in an area void of a easier path for the bolt.