After moving 80 nm in 12 hours, we settled in at this small anchorage at Reedy Island. We have been here a couple of times before and it is a good place to stop going either direction in order to set up for the next leg timed with a fair tide. A boat we passed in the canal followed us into this anchorage and literally dropped his anchor about 50' away from us. He had not been here before and apparently felt that we were in the only spot to be, which is certainly not the case. I talked to him about moving and he said he thought he would be fine. I told him that he was going to be the one moving in the middle of the night if there was a problem.

The storm most of you have probably heard about by now that spawned at least one tornado and caused major power outages in the mid-Atlantic states hit us about midnight. I woke up to unbelievable lightning about 20 minutes before the winds hit. I am telling you, even having grown up in SD and seen some awesome thunderstorms on the plains, I have never seen anything like this in all my years. It was like Hollywood being over the top. Nikki and I donned our life jackets just to be safe, and she also put the life jackets on the dogs. I blew the air horn multiple times to wake the guys on the other boat and then the winds hit us broadside. I don't know how high the winds were, but I would guess 50 kts minimum. We heeled over a good 10 degrees as the wind pushed us sideways and toward the other boat. At one point, I could see the bow of their boat within a few feet of our stern. The wind and rain were so strong we could hardly see their anchor light and only their spotlight gave a clue as to their location. In the end, our boats did not collide, no lightning strikes, and the anchors held. but I was pissed - both at them for anchoring so close, and at myself for not insisting they move, or move us if they ultimately refused.

In the height of the storm, we heard a mayday call from two brits who were in the Delaware River a few miles away from us, on a 26' sailboat, completely exposed, sails down, engine not working, and ran aground. The US Coast Guard responded and saved the day of course, but what a helpless feeling hearing someone on the radio pleading for help and feeling helpless to do anything about it. I concluded it made no sense for us to try to get to them and possibly put us in the same predicament. Thankfully there are the wonderful men and women of the USCG keeping watch over us and always there to help when needed.

We went back to bed when it was all over, around 0100, and woke at sunrise, weighed anchor, and headed south down the Delaware for Lewes, DE to meet up with Barb and Karl, two of Nikki's friends from way back.