Harbor sailing

I went down to CI and sailed with Dan yesterday. It was blowing furiously outside the harbor and the swells near the entrance looked like a pain in the ass to negotiate, so we decided to stay in the harbor and had an awesome time of tacking around and running wing on wing.
The plan is to bring Shadow up to SB next weekend...

I paid a quick visit to Shadow this morning, just to make sure everything was ok, since I haven't been down there in a while. The weather was really foggy and miserable, so no sailing. I scrubbed her a bit, hammered together the ill-fitting anchor locker hatch, visited Tad and called it a day. There's a small list of things to do before leaving CIH, but I can't wait to get her up to SB and get the frigging deck painted. My God! I am SO sick of the smurf blue.

Coaming done!

I went down to the boat today, ostensibly to check out the swap meet at AMS, but also to get started on a couple projects. The swap meet sucked, but Tad was kind enough to give me a kick-ass traveler system he doesn't need. I haven't decided yet whether it's going to work out, but that was really sweet of him. NB: the current traveler is 43 1/4 inches long.
I also epoxied the broken teak coaming back on. It's not a great job, but hopefully either a little wood colored caulk or just the varnish that I'll eventually apply should make it look better.
I've decided this is the year the deck is getting painted and there are no two ways about it! Now I have to figure out how, i.e. can I afford to haul, or is it gonna have to be done at the dock, somehow...

Nothing achieved

I went down to the boat yesterday, intending to epoxy the stbd teak coaming back together. It was blowing hard, though, and, although it was sunny and otherwise gorgeous, I didn't really want to work in the wind, so I just shot the shit with Cap'n Tad for a while and headed to Marshall's for some shopping. On the way there my car started overheating -- my fault: I know there's a coolant leak, so I replenish it every week or so, but I slacked off -- but I made it to the store without redlining it, shopped for longer than normal, refilled my radiator and made it home with no problems.
I should note that the windex installation has bit the ghost. I need to go aloft and redo it with epoxy and locknuts, because the doubled-up standard nuts still rattle loose, no matter what anybody tells you.
I'm really looking forward to the spring season...

Dinghy outboard maintenance done

A couple days ago I finally bit the bullet and replaced the outboard lubrication gear that had been stolen from my Saab last winter. I pulled the Honda off Buttercup, did the engine and lower unit oil changes and actually failed to hit the grease points because the brand new grease gun I bought from Boater's World isn't working -- no pressure? I should return that thing. In any case, I was shocked at the fact that both the engine and lower lube I replaced were practically new. Maybe I'm doing these oil changes too frequently?

Super high winds

Today the SB Channel W buoy is showing winds of 40kts and a 20ft swell, while the E Channel buoy is showing 30kts, gusting 40, and 8ft swells. It's nuts out!

Winter TODO list

Random scribbles on a paper from last time I was on the boat:
* put lock nuts on the aft chocks
* install larger anchor cleat
* repair broken teak coaming DONE
* varnish teak
* make anchor locker hatch DONE
* raise water line
* leak-proof forehatch (g'luck with that!)
* find and install new traveler
* fix windex (REMOVED)