Beat the Heat!

Live music on the bow (after the race, of course).
Lots of people took a dip.

The pile up at the Challenger buoy.

Art, working hard...

Distance works to get by Full Moon.

Full Moon crew Art “Tired” Teller, Randy “No Basement” Olsen, Don “Bingo” Caffrey, Robert “Bier” Leykam, and skipper John “Chips Ahoy” Mengedoht went for the pin end on port tack for the second week in a row to start Duck Dodge No. 11 on the hottest day of the year - so far. A number of boats had the same idea but this still paid off with Full Moon in the top ten on the first leg to the Aurora buoy, mixing it up with boats like Runner.

Rounding the buoy on the outside of the big Buchan 37 Distance, the Equalizer was quickly launched in a moderate breeze and Distance had to bear off after a while to escape Full Moon’s wind shadow. Meanwhile, a huge gap had opened between Full Moon and the rest of the fleet behind.

Heading into the “Challenger” buoy, the Equalizer came down nicely but, unfortunately, the wind began to die and Full Moon was lucky to get around. Distance and a Thunderbird were just ahead but going nowhere while boats that had rounded just a bit earlier still had wind enough to take them to the finish. Boats that had been much farther back began to pile up heading toward the buoy and soon a good 30 boats were drifting.

Eventually, the wind began to fill in and Full Moon got moving a bit sooner than Distance and held the advantage to the finish line to take 11th, though the T-bird stayed ahead. The usual rival boats were all far behind but I’m not sure anybody cared that much as long as they could be out on the cool water.

Bedtime Story

Gaining on Runner.
Yes, all those boats are behind us!

Scat is gaining...

Chuck with post-race beer.

More beer for Katie and Caroline...

The Race Committee for the Pajama Night Duck Dodge (July 21) finally set a starting line so skewed that it was not even close to possible to cross on starboard tack. Full Moon crew Michael “Spider Man” Medina, Katie “Good Luck Charm” Freels, Caroline “Strategist” Sneed, Chuck “Maximum Exposure” Weldy, and skipper John “Surgeon” Mengedoht went for a port tack start at the heavily favored “pin” end and the slightly risky move paid off with our best start of the season, third to cross the line.

Full Moon held position for much of the upwind leg to the Aurora buoy until a hot Rocket 20 got by and then both a J27 and the always well-sailed Ranger 26, Runner. Full Moon gained a bit under the Equalizer spinnaker downwind but not enough to pass anyone. Two red Thunderbirds were working hard to catch up but so far to no avail. Meanwhile, the beers were out a bit earlier than normal – the crew was hot and thirsty!

The Equalizer came down fairly well (it stayed dry...) but there was trouble with the topping lift for the pole as Full Moon jibed around the AGC buoy and the third leg began with the jib hung up and useless. It was quickly cleared but Full Moon had lost ground. It was a straight shot upwind to the Freeway buoy. On came faster Scat and Full Moon was dropped to sixth.

Heading on a tight reach for the finish, the red Thunderbirds were pushing hard in a strong breeze and gaining despite Full Moon’s attempts to hold them off. To make matters worse, relative giants Mata Hari (Catalina 36) and Distance (Buchan 37) were charging up from behind as well.

At the finish line, Mata Hari had forged ahead and the T-birds both just barely got by (rats!). Distance, however, managed to collide with both Mata Hari AND the finish line buoy as they crossed so their “finish” did not count and Full Moon took ninth. It may seem demoralizing to start third and finish ninth but Full Moon sailed well for the most part and, to be fair, most of the boats that finished ahead were simply faster boats, especially upwind and with a decent breeze on. Regardless, the sky was cloudless, the beer was ice cold, the setting was fabulous, and the crew was great fun as always. Claims from the Hokey Pokey notwithstanding, that’s what it’s all about!

The Jazz Run

Heading out through the large lock.
Boys in the cockpit in Port Townsend.

King of the Boat!

Full Moon headed north to Port Townsend last Saturday to deliver Ian to the Centrum Jazz Workshop. Younger brother Daniel wanted in on the action, of course, so the boys went by sea while Vickie drove up Sunday to bring Ian’s sax and additional stuff for the workshop.

The planned 8:00 AM start from Lake Union was missed by half an hour Saturday and then the Fremont Bridge operator refused to open until 9:00 even though it wasn’t a week day. By the time we got to the locks, there were a good number of boats waiting. The good news: they opened the large lock to get everybody in. The bad news: it takes a long time to get everybody into the large lock and properly tied up!

The delays meant we’d need nearly perfect wind conditions to enjoy any sailing if we were to arrive in Port Townsend before the Point Hudson Marina office closed. It was a gorgeous sunny day, though, and the trusty Yamaha smoothly pushed Full Moon along at over 6 knots. (Ian the music man had fun trying to figure out all the harmonics of the motor and boat humming in tune.). The GPS told a different story of speed, of course, as tidal currents would be briefly favorable and then not so favorable. At least the flood tide would be slowing as we got to the area of Admiralty Inlet.

The trip was mostly uneventful until the wind began to build out of the north as we got past Point No Point. It was tempting to sail but the wind was right on our nose and we had an adverse current of 1 ½ knots. Sorry boys, no sailing yet! (Sailing and schedules don’t play well together.) Of course, the wind also brought some waves. At first this just meant the occasional bit of spray off the bow but by Bush Point every wave brought a blast of spray. How bad could it get? A detour to Port Ludlow was possible but we were already pretty far north…

The wind built to the mid-20s with gusts of 30 knots and Full Moon began to slam into waves, rattling the rigging like mad, while the boys huddled in the cabin. The boat could take it but would the boys be dying of mal de mer? Ian wasn’t enjoying the ride much but was okay while Daniel was dozing and doing just fine. On we went for a solid hour of bashing until we reached the haven of Point Hudson and there was even 30’ of dock space left at the side-tie dock (first come, first served) so we wouldn’t have to raft up.

After a shower for me and burgers at Nifty Fifties, it was time to head back to the boat to stow gear and lay out the sleeping bags. Daniel fired up his portable DVD player, Ian got his nose in a book and Dad just rested, though sleep would be long in coming for all of us as the wind continued to howl in the rigging and wavelets made gurgling noises against the hull.

Rising fairly early the next morning, it was time for showers and a Goldilocks breakfast. (The first restaurant was big but understaffed and promised a long wait. The second restaurant was small and kind of shabby with people at tables looking like they’d been waiting a while for food. The third restaurant, the Point Hudson Café, was just right – clean, bright and airy, pleasant staff, no waiting and, as it turned out, good food.) After a bit of shopping in the used book store, Vickie arrived in town. We all enjoyed a good lunch at the Public House Grill and then it was time to grab some supplies for the boat, gather Ian’s stuff, and drive him up to Fort Worden for the workshop. Vickie and Daniel then headed back for Seattle by car and I stayed another night in the marina to avoid coming home late in the dark.

A shower, another good breakfast at the Point Hudson Café, prep the boat for single-handing (important stuff all readily at hand, other stuff stowed away), and I was underway by 8:30 AM. A back-eddy brought GPS speeds of over 7 knots across Port Townsend Bay but then the ebb tide hit as I got to the tip of Marrowstone Island and I was down in the low 4 knot range. Another sunny day, though, and the current would stop and then reverse as I went south. The wind was light out of the north and not strong enough to make good time under sail.

As the day went on, the wind got stronger and I soon had a pretty good following sea – enough to surf a lot of waves (max speed on the GPS, 9.3 knots!) but a lot of work at the tiller to keep the boat on course. It was very tempting to sail but I was tired from Saturday and from not sleeping well and I knew it could be a challenge to lower and tie down the sails later by myself if the wind held or got stronger. And the wind did get stronger, though thankfully not gusting to 30!

After a fairly quick trip, I arrived off Shilshole and paused to rig fenders and mooring lines on both sides in preparation for the locks. I didn’t count on a lot of boats waiting at 1:30 PM on a Monday but there were more than enough to fill the small lock at least once. Then the Argosy boat showed up and exercised their priority as commercial traffic. More waiting. Finally, they opened the large lock. The Fremont Bridge would not open for boats between 4 and 6 PM – would I make it in time?

Second boat out of the lock at 3:35, two miles to Fremont, top speed 6.2 knots (with more wake than I like but clearly less than the big power boats) – it was just possible to make the bridge. 3:55 PM and I blew the horn and the bridge answered – they would open! 25 minutes later Full Moon was back in her home slip, journey over and only some clean-up to do. Was it worth two long days of motoring, the pounding of the waves, and the poor sleep as the wind howled through the marina? Saturday evening nine year old Daniel said “This is the best day of my life!!!” Ian couldn’t wait to tell the story of our trip north to his jazz buddies. Yeah, it was worth it!

Freedom Reigns

Don trims as we gain on Freedom.

Tammy gets into the spinnaker take-down!

Full Moon was, finally, right on time at the starting line for the Red Wine, White Wine and the Blues Duck Dodge, a little farther left than ideal but clear of some traffic that appeared bent on fouling each other in the middle of the line. Crew Randy “Double Triple” Olsen, Katie “Cold Beer” Freels, Don “Short Hoist” Caffrey, Tammy “Skinny Dip” Cross, and skipper John “Trouble Maker” Mengedoht made the most of it with a clear lane and only two tacks to the Challenger buoy. Oncoming traffic made hoisting the spinnaker a bit risky plus a Thunderbird was just to leeward and determined to sail a hotter angle so the hoist was delayed for about a quarter of the leg. Once up, though, the Equalizer easily pulled Full Moon ahead of the Thunderbird and it was on to the Freeway buoy.

After nearly a straight shot past Gasworks to the Aurora buoy, the rest of the long 2 ½ lap race became a matchup with the J22 Freedom and a modified dull gray Thunderbird as the fleet spread out. The T-bird eventually pulled ahead but Full Moon mixed it up with Freedom all the way to the finish line with Freedom coming out ahead by mere inches to take 11th place out of some 40 boats.

Meanwhile Shogun, Fortis, and Ignitor all started behind Full Moon and were never a threat, all finishing a full leg or more behind.

Boys Night Out

Strong gusty winds and whitecaps greeted Full Moon crew Art “Double Yellow” Teller, Doug “Megapixel” Schoemaker, Ian “Skirtless” Mengedoht, Daniel “Yee-hah!” Mengedoht, and skipper John “Crazy Ivan” Mengedoht for Duck Dodge No. 8. With the starting line skewed, as usual, to make a narrow slot on starboard tack, things got a bit dicey as boats tacked onto port to make it across but Full Moon emerged unscathed in the top third of the huge fleet. From there it was a straight shot to the Freeway buoy and then another straight shot skimming Gasworks Park to the Aurora buoy.

Deploying the mighty Equalizer spinnaker brought a wild but fast ride down the lake and a smooth take-down at the AGC buoy cemented Full Moon’s gains on that leg. After a short reach to the Challenger buoy it was time for Art to repack the spinnaker down in the cabin while the boat heeled on one side or the other as Full Moon tacked back up the lake - with a couple of round-ups to keep things exciting.

The wind faded a little for the second lap, especially near the northern two buoys, but was otherwise a repeat. Everyone enjoyed the stronger winds and clear blue skies and in the end Full Moon was 12th out of 40 or more boats with all traditional rivals at least a full leg behind.