We're lucky. As of Thursday (when Florence made landfall) the projected course was well away from the Chesapeake bay. There will be Tropical Depression wind and rain, but not a direct hit, and — hopefully — minimal storm surge.

Here's Red Ranger's hurricane preparation list:

1. Remove foresails. The furling line can break and the sails unfurl destructively. Some marinas won't haul with headsails in place.

2. Tie up main and mizzen. We use a long line to wrap up the sails and sail covers with a technique called "Swedish Furling."

3. Stow floaty ball. We don't need the anchor marker float on deck.

4. Deflate and stow Scout. We don't need the dinghy on deck.

5. (optional) Stow jerry cans. These don't provide too much windage. They're heavy. They can be put into the cockpit.

6. Stow fenders. Either use them or put them below.

7. Take down the Bimini. The fabric will flog itself to death.

8. Close the galley hatch. With the bimini gone, it will let rain in.

9. (optional) Double up lines with chafe guards. We have large (at least ⅝" perhaps ¾") dock lines that utterly fill each cleat. It's hard to find anything else to use for ducklings. Winches, maybe.

10. Use extra line to tie down the anchors. They're secured with a number of small lines, a few extra bits of line won't hurt.

And now we're going to wait until the 18th of September before we undo everything. The storm's track involves a potential for some fearsome winds in the beginning of next week.