This past Sunday was hot and bright and cloudless. With a nice 10- to 20-mph wind, it was a perfect day for sailing. Of course, my boat is not in the water yet. But normally Larry might have asked me to crew for the Morning, his big, fast trimaran.

And that's where I would have been if I wasn't still on crutches.

It was one of the first sailing days of the season after the big boats went in, we were all anxious to sail, and Larry knew that I was as itchy as anyone.

Instead, I found myself shopping for shelving at Target. The Skywarn folks that I do radio communications for were broadcasting a severe thunderstorm warning for Sunday afternoon, but there was no hint or sign of any bad weather; it looked like a perfect day. "Sheesh," I thought, "some folks will fly into a tizzy at the first hint of a raindrop."

I looked at the sky. There was still not a cloud in sight. The weather forecasters were only calling for a 40% chance of rain, so we decided to leave the windows and skylights open, and we headed off to Target.

The sky was black when we finally got out of the store, and big fat raindrops were starting to smack the parking lot.

For once, Renate drove quickly (for her) home. She ran in and closed up while I took in what I could carry. Having secured the house, she lugged in the rest of the stuff.

We got upstairs, and we were soon happily surrounded by opened boxes and bits of shelving and hardware. As the rain pounded our skylights and the wind started making trees and electrical wires sway we congratulated ourselves on our excellent timing, and high-fived each other, saying: "Some 40% that is out there!"

And then the real storm hit.

This wasn't just a severe thunderstorm, it was a violent one.

It blew in quick and hard, seemingly out of nowhere. One minute Frank and Larry were trimming out the Morning, taking advantage of the 18-mph winds and open water outside of Branford Point. Suddenly there were clouds on the horizon. And lightning. And the storm was moving toward them, fast.

They are both very experienced sailors, but within minutes the Morning was overpowered by 50-mph winds and torrential rain.

Oh, and did I mention the lightning?

It struck all around them, but it missed the Morning, with its big aluminum mast. A rescue boat was able to get out to them after the worst of it had passed, and the Morning was towed back to New Haven. Frank was treated for hypothermia and released; Larry didn't even need to go to the hospital.

And Henry, who sometimes fills in for Frank or crews in addition to him, was safe and dry, assembling shelving and enjoying the storm through the skylights, totally unaware of what was happening out on the water.

Frank and Larry were very lucky. Further north, at Hammonasset, the beach-goers scurried for shelter, surprised by the sudden storm. A group of them crowded under a pavilion, which was subsequently struck by lightning. Five people were injured, including a 12-year old boy. One of them, a 23-year old man from West Haven, was killed.

I suppose I'll pay a little more attention weather reports now, even if they only call for a 40% chance of rain.

Larry has this to say about the current status of the Morning: "The boat appears to be structurally sound, but the mast broke, and some rigging was destroyed, as well as all the stuff aboard susceptible to water damage, which is pretty much everything, to greater and lesser degrees."

Oh, yeah. The bit about me on crutches above? I ripped the Achilles tendon off of my left heel while boxing, on April 4. Do you know what happens when you rip the Achilles tendon off of your heel? Well, I will tell you that it grabs your attention. In fact, it focuses all of your attention on that part of your body.

And the side effect of this is that you drop your hands. What happens when we drop our hands, boys and girls? Right. Boom, boom, out go the lights.

I had to be helped up, and led off the floor. I said to my partner: "Hey, cool!" He gave me a worried look. "No, really," I continued, "the floor! It's heaving and swaying, just like the ocean! I'm walking on water! Hey! I can walk on water!" Yup. Mild concussion.

So I ended up in the hospital (with some delay, due to a mis-diagnosis) and the timing was such that I got released from the hospital on my birthday. Yes, really. I've never had a better birthday present.

Someday, when I get around to it, I'll fill you in about what the recovery from an injury like that is like.