A monster lightning strike, captured by a Herald reader during yesterday's freak storm, narrowly missed luxury yachts owned by the likes of Nicole Kidman but almost wiped out a yellow sloop moored at Rushcutters Bay.

As the afternoon storm passed over the city, blanketing streets with ankle-deep hail, Gabriel Urbinaga snapped the bolt at the exact moment its zigzagging body struck the mast of the 22-foot sloop.

"I was ... at the balcony watching the storm and as a matter of luck I took this photo. I thought [it] could be interesting for you to illustrate the big rain," Urbinaga wrote in an email to the Herald.