It was a cool 58 degrees with about 15 knots of wind, but we didn't care. We were excited to sail again after a long winter hiatus! And of course sailing with friends is even better.

It's always fun and exciting to spend time on the boat after a long winter and we have had a longer and colder than average winter and spring.

First the work needed to get done. We were able to get the winter cover off the boat. This was the first year that we did this job ourselves. When we had the winter cover made for the boat, as part of the purchase, Tom put the winter cover on the first fall and took it off the first spring. So, this year it was our job. Boy, that cover is bigger than it even looks. We were able to get the job done in a couple of hours with it all neatly folded up, stored in it's bag and placed in the storage shed for when we need it again in the fall.

We also started the ever present list of projects for the year. Mark had taken all 3 winches off the mast in the fall. Each winch has a circular piece of teak wood that the winch gets mounted to. We took these teak pieces home over the winter and refinished them along with the hatch board to the companionway and our boarding steps. All back in place and they look fantastic.

My job was cleaning up the stainless steel exhaust outlet on the transom of the boat and prepping and painting the scupper outlets on the transom of the boat as well. The paint on the scupper outlets was flaking off and just needed to fixed up a bit and this job is next to impossible to do with the boat in the water, so this is a good time to do it.

I was also able to clean all the stainless support poles for the dodger and bimini before we put the canvas back on those. The dodger and bimini are looking a little rough around the edges and now one of the zippers is coming apart. We have new canvas on the list as a future purchase, we just need to decide when and where that is going to happen.

Mark also greased the prop and checked out the zincs and got all that ready for the boat to get wet.

Boy, when I type the list of things completed, it doesn't seem like much but we were busy all day. Of course, we are more than happy to mess around on the boat after not seeing her all winter :)

The winter has been long....

Finally spring is starting to slowly, very slowly, creep over the melting snow and ice. All winter, Mark and I have been plotting the work that needs to be done to the boat this year and most importantly before she is splashed into the water, even though it is still in solid form.

The weather today 45 degrees and sunny, good enough for me, let's head to the boat and see what we can do.

Our mission today was to replace the intake hose on our port air conditioning unit. We have a leak coming from somewhere on this side of the boat and the highest suspect on the list at the moment are the aging hoses for the air conditioning unit. This hose runs from the pump that supplies both air conditioning units to the air conditioning unit itself. Along the way this hose runs through 3 compartments and therefore 3 bulkheads with a hole drilled through each, so the hose has a place to run through. Unfortunately, each hole is about 1.5 to 2 inches in diameter with not only this water hose running through it but also about 6 - 7 other cables, wires and such too, making for a tight area in which to pull the hose through.

Based on a tip that I had heard about from another cruisers blog, we cut a small section of wooden dowel material that fits into the internal diameter of the hose and used that to connect the old section of the hose to the new section of hose by drilling a couple of screws through the hose and into the dowel materials where the hoses now connect.

Now came the fun part, pushing, pulling, grunting, crouching upside down in an extremely small space....yeah! the hose moved about 2 cm....yes, we started out fairly slow, however once we were able to get it moving and had more leverage with more hose to grab hold of, it started to move more and more quickly, until finally we were able to pull the new hose section completely through and the old hose is now removed, Yeah!!! Unfortunately, the integrety of the old hose appeared to be good, too good, so that hose doesn't seem to be the cause of our leak. So, we will have to move on to replace hose #2 and then hose #3 that are connected to that port air conditioning unit.

Well, after all that hard work, we were hungry and had to have a bit of fun and reconnecting with our sailing friends in the area, so a stop at the Shoreline Pub was in order. It was great to see Kathy (the barkeep) again after a long winter away. Saw our friend Don as well. Had a beer or two and a pizza for dinner while looking at the great views of Lake Pepin. I really can't describe in words how it feels for me when I am near the water and connected to our community of sailors. It feels like coming home and has an incredibly soothing feeling for my soul to just be near the water and my boat.

Well, it's winter here in Minnesota and the boat has been tucked about for a little over 3 months now. I am missing my boat....sigh....

In the winter months, we try to keep the sailing mentality alive despite the snow and cold. Any opportunity to talk about sailing, visit and shop at West Marine, plan projects to be completed during the season, complete projects over the winter and attend educational classes that will help further our knowledge.

We just returned from attending Mack Boring's Diesel Maintanence class for boat owners in the Chicago area and boy, did we learn alot. Prior to attending class we had this mysterious hunk of metal, gears and belts living below our companionway steps. (Well, perhaps Mark knows alot more that I do, however to me it was a mysterious hunk of metal). After attending class (which was awesome thanks to our great instructor - Jordan, thanks Jordan!), we have successfully completed the following:

Changed the alternator
Changed the starter
Changed engine oil/filter
Changed coolant
Changed raw water impeller/pump
Took apart the heat exchanger and replaced
Pulled the fuel injectors, inspected and replaced
Removed the valve cover and adjusted the valve set
Replaced the v belt and adjusted
This and a whole more....

Now this all seems a little less mysterious...

We also met some really great people who were also attending the class with us. Lots of different boats, motors, stories and experiences. It's a small, small world when one of the guys in class shared a sailtime boat with our friends John and Kate Dowell.

Well, yesterday we were at the boat and took down the sails for the season and started to empty all the items that cannot remain on the boat for the winter months. The boat will come out in a couple of weeks time and we want to be prepared for this year's haul out since we have never winterized this boat, nor has this boat ever been winterized. We wanted to allow enough time for things to not go as planned.

So, our first season with the new Painkiller...we have accomplished a great deal this year in making this boat ours, although to the naked eye it doesn't appear to look that different.

Here's the list of what we have done.

Lots of cleaning
- Clean & polish all the interior woodwork
- Clean & polish all exterior stainless steel
- Clean & Wax all fiberglass on the topsides
- Clean out fridge and freezer
- Clean stove burners (they all work now)
- Compound, wash & wax the hull
- Wash & polish the mast, boom and all one hundred million inches of
wire rigging
- Clean bilge

Putting some stuff back together
- Reinstalled the solar panel
- Reinstalled the wind generator

Some Fixing/Repairing
- Fix loose wire on starboard side AC/Heating unit to allow it to heat
- Repair dinghy davits (broken during take down and transport)
- Electrically bonded the sea water strainer for AC and for raw water
wash down
- Fix loose connection on cabin fan
- Fix loose connection on stereo speaker
- Replaced the starter for engine
- Lubricate slide out for garbage can
- Replace water pump, impeller and belt on generator water system
- New bottom paint
- Newly painted boot stripe
- Change zincs
- Redo teak fiddles in the galley
- Re-tag and re-certify fire extinguishers

Some upgrades
- Installed a wifi antenna
- Installed the XM radio and antenna
- Make a cover for the freezer so that when we open the one door the
freezer is not open everytime you open the fridge
- Put the name "Painkiller" on the transom
- Install line hanger in port lazerette
- Make new curtains/covers for portlights
- Remove shampoo and conditioner dispensers in the bathroom
- Added new teak boarding steps

Wow, when I look back at all we have done, I feel quite accomplished. Next spring comes our big task of re-finishing all the exterior teak!

Friday night we arrived at Lake Pepin, as we usually do. Forecast for the weekend looks like Friday will be the best sailing day for both winds and weather....we must do some sailing. We arrived about 5:30 pm or so and always have a little work to do to unload the car and get settled for the weekend and of course, we must eat dinner.

So, after we got settled, we got some awesome brick oven pizzas from the Third Street Deli. This weekend, it is Mark, myself, Abbie and her boyfriend Mason with us.

After an awesome dinner, we gather friends from the dock, who are also interested in a great sail - aboard we have Don, Jodi, Tim, Julie, Jay, Mark, me, Abbie and Mason. We left the dock just after the sunset.

The winds were from the south at 15 - 20 knots (that's about 10 - 15 mph for you landlubbers). After dark there was a beautiful half moon shining brightly on the water and a clear sky full of stars. I absolutely love sailing at night! For reasons I can't understand, Lake Pepin has virtually no boat traffic after dark, so we have the lake all to ourselves.

It is a absolutely perfect night sail on the lake and we sailed about 12 nautical miles with only a small handful of tacks required (tacks = turning the boat).

I cannot describe how peaceful, exhilirating, calm, fun, freeing, mysterious, and connected to nature, sailing at night is. Especially great with good friends aboard! Perfect!

Yes, it's true, our identity has been reduced to an immediate association with the boat make, model and name and we have lost all sense of names and personalities.

Well, I am exaggerating a bit, as my husband tells me I like to do...

However, I do find it curious that among sailors there is an immediate and lasting association of people with the boat. I too, am guilty of this affliction...for the life of me, I can't remember their names, but you know... the ones that own that Catalina.

It appears that even before we are introduced to people, they are already aware of a new boat in the marina, what it is, what dock it is on, etc. So, frequently when we do finally get to an introduction, the response I hear most often is "Oh, your the new Island Packet". Why, yes, I am the new Island Packet, er...I mean, hello, I am Rose and my husband is Mark.

I am not bothered by this association to the boat and once introductions are complete, I suspect we become Mark & Rose, who own an Island Packet. And I know, when we get out cruising, we will once again be referred to as "Oh, your the new Island Packet". And it's all good, comes with territory of owning a boat I suppose. Just a causual observation of this name game we play.

Now, I must be off, need to run over and chat with some people who own a Catalina that I can't remember their names, but have remembered their dog's name (I guess that's a whole other topic for a furture post)