Another Great Start...

Just like a cell phone advertisment - count the bars! (Art Teller photo)

It's hard to keep the boat balanced in such strong wind... (Art Teller photo)

Full Moon crew Randy “Halyards” Olsen, Art “Jamaican” Teller, Michael “Cheap Drunk” Medina, Daniel “The Quiet One” Medina, and skipper John “Big Enough” Mengedoht were well positioned for the start of Goosebump Race No. 5 until a wave of much larger boats essentially shut down the wind. Once the monsters were past, Full Moon recovered and had a good first leg upwind to the AGC buoy, picking off Shogun and several other boats which had been smart enough to avoid the big dogs (but not fast enough to hold off Full Moon!).

Full Moon maintained good speed on the reach to the Cove buoy, pulling farther ahead of boats behind, though only passing two boats and not really gaining on the leaders. Rounding the buoy, the giant Equalizer spinnaker rose to the occasion and Full Moon began to reel in 42 foot Yankee III, Tenacious, and a speedy dinghy, all sailing a “hotter” angle toward the middle of the lake but into weaker wind. As all three jibed back toward the Freeway buoy, Full Moon had pulled in front by some 75 yards and into 7th place!

Heading on a tight reach to the Aurora buoy, Yankee III and Tenacious began to gain slowly and it was unclear if Full Moon could remain ahead all the way around and to the finish line upwind. It was painful to watch and Full Moon used every scrap of wind but the bigger boats had their way, along with the pesky dinghy, using the light wind to its advantage and relegating Full Moon to a still-good 10th place finish. Shogun had managed to come on strong to take 11th but Fortis was a long way back, finishing some ten minutes later.

Superbowl Comeback!

Full Moon was caught behind a wall of boats in light wind at the starting line for the Superbowl Sunday Goosebump race and, when the fleet began to spread out, Full Moon was nearly last! A few strategic tacks to slightly breezier spots helped as crew Caroline "The Model" Sneed, Sara "Politically Incorrect" Skinner, Chuck "In The Pocket" Weldy, and skipper John "Slow Learner" Mengedoht began a slow crawl toward respectability.

At the end of the first leg, Full Moon had caught and passed old rival Shogun and a few other laggards. Rounding the AGC buoy, Full Moon jibed and then hoisted the giant Equalizer and squeezed past a few more boats. The leg from the Cove buoy to the Freeway buoy was a long and fairly tight reach but Full Moon kept the Equalizer in play and quickly picked off Fortis, another boat or two, and, very nearly, a J33!

The J33 surged back ahead, though (they should!), and the final leg was a slow upwind drag race to a 14th place finish out of more than 25 boats. This doesn't sound all that fabulous but there were a couple of T-birds and all of our old rivals in our wake plus there was no rain!

Wind!

Art working hard in the pre-start...

Eileen enjoys multiple warm layers.

Randy says: Does this make it look like we're heeled over?

Though the skies were pewter gray, no rain fell and there was measurable wind for the third Goosebump race. Full Moon crew Randy “Long & Thick” Olsen, Art “Halyard” Teller, Eileen “Warm” McHugh, and skipper John “Puffs” Mengedoht had a decent second-row start, tacked for clear air, and made it to the first AGC buoy in 11th place. With a short beam reach to the Cove buoy, the Equalizer stayed in the bag until the 3rd leg up the Eastlake shore where it helped Full Moon gain on a red Thunderbird and always-fast Runner.

Runner had problems with their spinnaker drop at the Freeway buoy and Full Moon rounded ahead, nearly catching the T-bird and the big Buchan 37 Distance. Returning upwind to complete the first lap, Distance had pulled out ahead and Runner caught up but the T-bird suffered in lighter air near the western shore and Full Moon got by. Always nice to pass a T-bird!

Full Moon held position to start the second lap but the spinnaker hoist went awry with the head trapped under the top of the forestay. The Equalizer still filled and pulled the boat but with reduced area. This allowed the red T-bird to slowly work on by. The wind began to decrease at this point but was still blowing and the remainder of the race was a battle with the T-bird which, unfortunately, finished just a few feet ahead to leave Full Moon a still-respectable 10th. The rest of the fleet was left to suffer with fading wind, old rivals Fortis and Shogun a full half lap down on Full Moon.