hailstorm.

so far, we have been having a very pleasant stay at drum point marine despite the fact that we are here because we are broken.  there is a west marine within walking distance so tom has managed to get some projects done.  no excuses since supplies are readily available.  gary, drum point marine's owner, is himself working on replacing our circulating pump at the current time.

yesterday evening at about 1700h, we had some weather come through.  tom had been watching the radar because we wanted to run over to west marine to get some non-skid tape and didn't want to get caught out in the rain.  i asked about closing up the cockpit enclosure and he said that we had time.  i no longer listen to him about not bothering to close the overhead hatches when we leave - i ALWAYS close those. it doesn't matter if there is NO chance of rain, they will be shut no matter what.  living in deltaville all these years, we have gotten used to seeing weather cells on the radar approaching and then splitting up and leaving a clear window right over us - i don't know why this happens but it often did.  the northern neck of VA would get slammed and those of us on the south side of the rappahannock river would be just fine (except, of course, for the tornado in 2011 - EVERYONE felt that one!).  in any case, this is not what happened.  we did make it back from west marine in plenty of time before the wind and rain arrived and then we got blasted with hailstones as big as marbles!  this went on for a while and i have to say, it was really quite alarming.  i've seen hail before - pea-sized and lasting for a few seconds - but nothing at all like this! the racket was horrible.  the water was boiling. the whole thing was nerve wracking.  after what seemed like a really, really LONG time, it stopped and all was quiet. the wind died for about a minute and then it started up again, this time going the opposite direction and then came the torrential rain.  it didn't last long and when it was over, the sun came out and it was like nothing had happened - except for the fog over the creek created by the ice falling into the water and mud and run-off cascading from the land into the creek from the rain.  we stepped outside to check up on things and  aside from being seriously plastered with leaves, the boat was fine.  in the meantime, gary and crew were out fishing at the mouth of the patuxent river and i was a bit worried about them. they came in a couple of hours later and they were fine, too.  it was really something.  scary even when you think about it with that wind changing direction like that, like there was some kind of circular vortex going on.  i'm glad that we were tied up at the dock instead of anchored for this one.

tom took a video while all of this was happening and here is the link to it: 

hailstorm

i took a not-very-good photo through the window:  

hailstones!