Well ok, maybe only has far as the West & Rhode Rivers but at least we were able to break away from the slip! Its seems longer than it was to have Magnolia stranded on land for the winter. Finally Sunday afternoon Magnolia was ready for quick equipment checkout ride. Unfortunately upon leaving the dock we had everything but wind! Our friends Wes & Brenda decided to take a break from chores on their boat to catch some sun and let someone else do the driving for a while. Of course as soon as we decided to return to the dock the wind started to build out of the SSE which from a docking perspective is the worst direction! (Blows us into the slip and away from the dock) We managed okay (read as not exceptionally pretty) but it was our first underway of the season! 

It was a good winter in that we are chipping away on our overall Magnolia improvement list. This winter was marked primarily by safety improvements. We had an additional bilge overboard discharge installed, a fuel-water separator/filter relocated, and new anchor windlass with 275ft of 5/16 HT chain installed as primary and an upsized the Danforth on the secondary. In addition there were a number of outdated electronic instruments  that we had removed (can you say LORAN?).  Thankfully the stern of Magnolia no longer looks like a communications center that went awry! Annette did get up from her sewing machine once this winter, but she ran a BUNCH of fabric and thread through producing enough canvas covers to cover the USS Enterprise! Between LifeSling Covers, Fender Covers, Swim Platform Covers, Chaff Guards she has nearly worn her fingers to the bone!

Looking forward to seeing you on the water!