Lightning question

[cancunkid]

Okay this isn't really a hurricane question although Dennis was full of lightning. When lighting strikes the ocean how far away from the strike would you have to be to be safe? During Thunderstorms I am sure there are some fishermen who get trapped out in lets say a metal boat and not even directly in water I just always thought salt water was a great electrical conductor and that is why they used it with the electric chair. Also is the lightning like electrical wires and birds it just takes the easiest course so the oceans aren't littered with dead marine life? I have always wondered about this because when I am at the ocean and there is lightning anywhere I am moving in. I did once find a great fulgurite after a storm on Dauphin Island though.

[Hurricaneman]

All that convection caused the lightning