I continued up the pier to where Suzanne was now waiting with our bags from the hotel. At my insistence, she climbed into the dinghy and I handed in the bags. Although I still hadn't felt any tingling, I wasn't going to take any chances with two of us. I towed Suanne back to the boat and she got out, transferring the bags to the boat. I tied the dinghy off to the stern, over the flooded dock and climbed aboard myself.

We unlocked the boat and went below. All the systems were working and the bilges were dry. To be sure, I fired up the small portable gas generator and made sure that if we lost power, we would still be OK. Everything worked fine and we settled in to watch the parade as the power cruisers started to settle in around us.

Within two hours, we were in the center of a raft of boats, most of them towering over our deck. Dinghies and workboats had weaved a net of docklines around us, tying off to the pilings that stuck out above the water and adjusting as necessary to allow for the rise of the coming tide. By mid afternoon, we watched as the river rose to its maximum.

SITTING PRETTY

The last boats had just been positioned when word came from up river. Someone who knew someone in the city government had reported that the tide had just crested at the city locks, about ten miles up river, and that it had been about a foot below the last high tide. The river was falling again and, barring more rain, we had seen the worst of it. The boat owners and marina personnel who had worked to get all the boats in position and secured now started working on untying their creation, hoping to have all the boats back in their home slips before dark.

As we sat on the bow that evening and watched the sun slip behind the trees on the other side of the river, we talked about the day and the difficulties we had gone through. We reviewed our actions and looked for things we would have done differently.

I learned that having a boat does not mean you can always get home. In the past, we had kept our dinghy on the foredeck when we were in the slip. Now, if there is any indication that the river might rise, we keep the dinghy in the water. If we are on the boat, we keep it tied to the bow. If we leave the boat, we move it to the highest part of the docks, so that we can get to it if needed.

I also learned to watch the docklines, especially when we are part of a group. Our docklines needed to be adjusted during the tide rise and fall, which meant that other lines on the same pilings had to be adjusted. There were several times where either the marina personnel or I had to move lines up or down in a "slinky" fashion, one set at a time. Knowing what line went to what boat is important here, especially at night. Also, chafing gear between lines can make the difference between boats staying put and boats floating away.

Also, I learned that making sure Suzanne had a good pair of rubber sea boots was more important than making sure she had a good pair of high heel boots. Technically, I didn't learn this myself, but Suzanne made sure to point it out to me the next weekend at West Marine.

We agreed that the day had been interesting and different and like nothing we had ever experienced on land. We then got out our cell phones and started calling some of more unfortunate friends, inviting them to leave their hot, dark, quiet houses and to visit us for cold drinks, a hot meal and television in our air conditioned boat. We tried not to gloat as we did.