Just another Friday. Can't wait to get out of work and jump on the boat for a quick sail. Weather forecast calls for a "chance of thunderstorms." But, they always say that in the summer. Doppler radar map looks OK.

Still, to be safe, I'll stick close to home. I can always duck in if the weather takes a turn for the worse.

Sailing is good. 10-15 knot winds. I go back and forth, round and round for an hour or so. The sky begins to get dark and I head on in. I'm only about a half mile off, the wind behind me.

Then the wind dies. Nothing. Sails flap. That's strange. I haul down the sails and fire up the engine.

Suddenly the wind starts piping up. Only now its on the nose. The wind has turned around nearly 180 degrees. The breeze starts building and keeps coming. The water becomes agitated, covered with small whitecaps. Within minutes, the whitecaps turn into steep breaking chop. Wind is howling now. I'm having trouble keeping the boat into the wind. Just the force of the wind on the hull is pushing the boat sideways, heeling her way over.

The forward hatch flies open. I leave the helm to dog it down. The main sail is being clawed by the wind, trying to rip the sail ties off. I wrap the sail with a line. Meanwhile, I'm getting pushed further away.

Back on course again with the engine at full bore. Making little progress against the wind and waves. Rudder of little use. I have to swivel the engine to one side and the other to keep the bow into the wind. Boat is hardly moving. I look to see if the prop has fallen off.

Evil black clouds start rolling in. They look menacing, like Armageddon.

Catching alot of spray over the bow. Every other wave in the face. Now the rain starts. Big, fat raindrops that hurt when they hit you. Feels like hail. Hard to see. Lightning starts. It's far away, for now. I'm eyeing anything metal suspiciously.

Finally reach the safety of my canal. I keep the engine wide open. Screw the "no wake" zone. Race down to my slip. Tie her off good. Jump in the car.

On the way home, there are fallen trees and power outages here and there. Reports of microbursts.

Maybe I won't be pulling that stunt again anytime soon.