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| Marcelle, Randy, Cap'n John, Grace, and Michael in the pre-start maneuvers. |
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| Grace and Art, looking good. |
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| Michael and Marcelle soak up the late summer sun. |
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| Upwind concentration. |
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| Marcelle is ready to fend off! |
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| Beginning to escape the Freeway parking lot. |
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| Our escape is complete! |
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| Go, Equalizer! |
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| Russian Standard = Full Moon fuel? |
The final Duck Dodge of the summer is always Martini Night aboard
Full Moon and so it was this last Tuesday, the galley resplendent with choice Vodkas, olives, lemon peels, and some great food. Crew Randy “Low Headroom” Olsen, Art “Big Sausage” Teller, Michael “Russian Standard” Medina, Dave “Garbanzo Buns” Pulsifer, Marcelle “Pimento, Please” Lynde, Grace “Potty Run” Teller and skipper John “Push ‘em Back” Mengedoht managed an excellent start if, once again, in close quarters with several boats. Eventually breaking free into clear air,
Full Moon accelerated away from the pack but the wind ahead was fading and it was apparent that the “Freeway” buoy was going to be a parking lot.
Approaching on port tack with a bunch of boats attempting to complete their rounding on starboard indeed made for a large mess but
Full Moon found a good spot to tack inside a Catalina 36. Unfortunately,
Runner (Ranger 26) came in with no overlap rights and tacked inside
Full Moon, hoping to also make it around the buoy. This made a
Full Moon sandwich between the Catalina and
Runner and there was no option but to fend off both boats in hopes of preventing any damage.
Eventually ejected from the drifting mass of boats,
Full Moon found a little wind and headed for the Aurora buoy. After a clean rounding there, the mighty Equalizer was launched but the wind remained light and the Equalizer was unable to provide any big gains. After a long reach/run down the lake, the wind began to fade again, just in time to provide another parking lot at the AGC buoy! Once again,
Full Moon was inside a sandwich with
Runner inside and a much larger boat outside, though careful maneuvering all around prevented any contact.
The final “upwind” leg to the finish was painfully slow with little to no wind and rapidly descending darkness. While many boats gave up and fired up their motors,
Full Moon persevered to the end, though not without the benefit of a few Martinis! As usual,
Full Moon elected to continue sailing rather than join what appeared to be an epic 46-boat raft-up.
It has been a great season of fun on the lake and it is hard to believe it is over, especially when real summer weather has only so recently arrived.
Full Moon did pretty well overall with two Bronze Ducks, three fourths and an average of 5th place (in third start).
