My husband was like a kid with a new toy when he bought his new sailboat. He was as proud as punch! The whole family had to come to see it like he had just given birth to a baby. We had to have a big party at the sailing club complete with lots of food, drinks, and desserts. His twenty-seven foot pride and joy was the star of the day.

At first, we kept Meander at a dock at Rehoboth Bay Sailing Association in Rehoboth, Delaware. My husband was always frustrated with sailing there because he equated it to sailing in the Tidy Bowl (old TV commercial). If you had good wind, you would sail to one shore of the Bay only to come about and go in another direction. He yearned for larger waters where he could sail for hours before making any such tactics.

August is in the hurricane season for the United States. Being on the east coast, we had our share of hurricane aftermaths such as flooding, thunderstorms, or even being hit by a hurricane itself. Sure enough, one was coming and my husband had to make sure Meander was battened down and secure for the storm.

He came home from work approximately two days before the hurricane was to strike Delaware. He frantically grabbed all his gear he felt he needed and stuffed them into his boat bags. I knew I couldn’t go with him to help because we had a five-year old, and I had teaching the next day. Once he felt he had gear, tools, and food (probably peanut butter), he took off for Rehoboth to get the boat ready for the hurricane. Hugs, kisses, a worried look, and, “I’ll see you later” was what I got before he set out for his journey.

I wasn’t all that worried at this point. I thought he was going to the club to add more dock lines, remove the sails, secure loose items below, and do all the necessary details required for prepping our boat for the hurricane. He said he might stay the night, but I thought he would be back the next morning. I learned that wouldn’t be the case.

Hour after hour passed, and I heard no word from my husband. It was before the days of cell phones, and he had forgotten to take his handheld ham radio rig. I didn’t sleep much through the night because I watched the news, and the weather forecasters were predicting the storm to hit Delaware along with most Mid-Atlantic states. I was at home all secure, and my husband was on a boat at dock with a hurricane coming. Needless to say, I started to worry that he was still there.

Sure enough, the outer bands of the hurricane started to hit our area. With that comes wind, fierce rain, and flying debris. At times, it was like a storm with thunder and lightening. Dark and gloomy, it’s scary and noisy. My husband was not safely at home! I had no clue if he was traveling home, found shelter, or staying on Meander. I started to make phone calls to friends we knew in the Rehoboth area. What was the weather like there? Had anyone heard from my husband? How could I reach him? Or would they check on him after the storm passed if they could? I was panicky, frightened, and angry at him for not coming home before the storm hit.

The storm raged on for quite some time. My daughter is a heavy sleeper, and I do believe she slept through the first phase of the hurricane. The eye of the storm was inching in with blue skies, no rain, a beautiful hue, and no fierceness in the weather. I heard the phone ring. When I answered it, my husband was on the other end quickly telling me he had spent the time of the hurricane ON the boat. He said he opened the hatch just a bit during the storm, and he was surrounded by water. He could not see the dock, the finger pier, or anywhere to step safely. He thought his best option was to stay on the boat during the hurricane.

You would have thought I would have been so happy to hear from him. I actually was. However, I started screaming at him about the craziness of staying on the boat alone with no one around during a hurricane. I told him how frightened I was for him knowing no one could get to him for rescue. On and on I went. I made him feel badly instead of joy for hearing his voice. Silence was the sound on the other end of the phone. I told him I had stayed up all night worrying. More silence. Then he had to go before the tail of the hurricane came. Good grief! More worry!

The tail of storm passed through as fiercely as the first. It always seems just as quickly as the storm ends the skies are a beautiful shade of blue. But you look at the ground and see the damage the winds created. With this storm, we lucked out. Just a few limbs here and there, trash cans everywhere, and anything that wasn’t tied down got blown in one direction or another. No serious damage, luckily.

School was called off due to some areas in town having no electricity. Yeah! A day off! I let my daughter sleep in for a little while, but then the phone rang again. Of course, it was my husband. He was coming home. I was jubilant and furious at the same time. I was conflicted in a sea of emotions. I was happy he made it through the hurricane, but perturbed that he had stayed on the boat alone and trapped with no way off. It reminded me of when your child runs off, and then comes back unscathed. You’re overwhelmed at seeing the child, but then you’re angry he ran off to begin with.

About an hour later I heard the back door open with a voice that shouted, “I’m home!” Hugs and kisses and then a punch in the arm! “How could you?” “That was not the plan!” He explained again how he was below decks, and by the time he came up he was surrounded by water and couldn’t get off the boat.

We discussed the situation at great length with him telling me every detail of his experience in the hurricane. We came to a conclusion for the next hurricane to hit our area. Just make sure the boat insurance is paid up, and hope for the best. No more leaving the family, no more getting stuck on the boat, and no more worrying. We had the boat for many years afterward and moved to the Chesapeake Bay on the Miles River. Many times we moored or docked the boat in a safe harbor when a hurricane was coming. And then…..we went home.