Ya Sure, Ya Betcha!

The Race Committee had to rough it this week - it wasn't that warm out.

Approaching the AGC buoy on the first lap.

Randy and Michael relax for a moment after hoisting the mighty Equalizer.

Cap'n John with his game face on.

The clouds briefly cleared away for the start of the Viking Night Duck Dodge and, with a decent wind out of the southwest, Full Moon went for the favored Committee Boat end of the line. Of course, so did a bunch of other boats, including some relatively large ones, and Full Moon was squeezed in a traffic jam. Crew Randy “Perfect Set” Olsen, Michael “Skirt” Medina, Marcelle “Ease N’ Trim” Lynde, Eileen “Kayaks” McHugh, and skipper John “Rolled Again” Mengedoht soon tacked away into clear air but not before giving up some ground to Summer Babe (J27), Selchie (T-bird) and some others which had done better with a clean start near the other end of the line.

Full Moon did well playing the wind shifts, though, and rounded the AGC buoy not too far behind Selchie and Runner (Ranger 26), which had returned to second start after trying third start for a race or two. The decision to do a jibe set of the spinnaker proved a mistake as the wind had clocked into the south but the mighty Equalizer still kept Full Moon in the game, not all that far behind the lead boats.

The Equalizer came down smoothly at the Freeway buoy and Full Moon headed west to the Aurora buoy. Unfortunately, the Aurora buoy was in a wind dead zone. Boats that drifted around just ahead then reached a wind line first and took off and Full Moon was suddenly no longer in reach of the race leaders.

The southbound leg was a battle between Full Moon and much bigger boats like the Buchan 37 Distance, the bigger boats having the edge whenever the breeze came on. Distance got ahead, but not by much, and Runner was also still in striking distance.

Launching the Equalizer ahead to head north, Full Moon held her own, had another clean drop at the Freeway buoy, and sailed a bit south of the rhumb line to provide some cushion at the dead zone remaining near the Aurora buoy. This paid off as Full Moon was able to round inside of both Runner and Distance.

Unfortunately, Runner then caught a puff of wind to windward and was soon close abeam with a Capri 25 just ahead and to windward of them. Full Moon held off Runner for a good distance but the Capri was able to pull ahead and this changed the wind dynamic just enough to allow Runner to forge ahead as well.

In the end, Full Moon was a still-decent ninth, with Runner ahead in seventh, Distance just behind in tenth, and rival Zephyr a shade further back in eleventh.

80% Chance of Weather

Big Dave, John, and Judy heading out from the marina.

Just ahead of Zephyr after a near-perfect start.

Items to leeward are not as close as they appear....

Chasing Selchie in very light air on the long leg to the AGC buoy.

The forecast for Duck Dodge No. 3 (Sam Garvin Memorial Night) called for 80% chance of rain and a consistent 10 knots of breeze out of the southwest. Prepping Full Moon for battle, there certainly was rain but not much wind. Prior to the start, the rain was gone, the sun popped out (for a while), and the lake turned to glass with the faintest hint of air coming out of the west. Not that I’m complaining about the sun, mind you.

Full Moon crew Michael “Highland Park” Medina, Dave “Dry Drop” Pulsifer, Judy “Slow Leak” Tiffany, and skipper John “Hard to Pass” Mengedoht maneuvered just in front of rival Zephyr and nailed the start near the Committee Boat. Farther west, the blue T-bird Selchie and J80 Heart Attack (which we assumed was in first start) were not far behind, though, and both found just enough more wind to squeeze out ahead. With the mighty Equalizer spinnaker up, Full Moon kept up to round the Freeway buoy, presumably in second place (more on that later), and ahead of a few first start boats.

Full Moon continued to chase Selchie across the lake toward the Aurora buoy. Old rival Ignitor snuck up from behind but was never really a threat as they were also a ways off to leeward. Full Moon maintained a good line all the way to the buoy but Selchie came in on starboard tack with right of way, requiring Full Moon to duck behind before rounding.

The long leg to the AGC buoy alternated between a beam reach and close-hauled in very light air. Selchie managed to stretch out their lead as Full Moon held off a couple of bigger boats. After rounding the buoy, the mighty Equalizer was launched again and Full Moon began to slowly reel in Selchie.

However, as Selchie passed the Committee Boat, a horn sounded – the Committee had shortened the race to a single lap! Unfortunately, there was no horn for Full Moon as we were placed fourth, though this was still an excellent finish and cause for celebration. The question was who had finished ahead of Selchie?

It turns out Salsa (J29) was scored in first place, though we never saw her, and Heart Attack was scored in second. Given that Heart Attack’s sister ship Crazy Ivan is typically in first start and a J29 rates the same (PHRF 123), it is a mystery to me why these boats continue to race in second start. While Full Moon dabbled with third start last summer at the suggestion/invitation of the Race Committee, it was clear that her natural competition was in second start and we switched back. Salsa and Heart Attack, please take the hint!

Keep On Swimming...

Debra and Chuck with their funky hats.

Selchie with Full Moon in the background on the first leg. 

Gravel barge coming through! 

J'Estalt leads Selchie on the first downwind run. Full Moon has the orange spinnaker way behind, though we would  be ahead of all these boats at the finish!

Relative to the wind, the "pin" end was favored for the Funky Hat Night Duck Dodge. However, relative to the first buoy, the Committee boat end was heavily favored. Full Moon crew Debra “Shamrock” Ricard, Chuck “Black Butte” Weldy, and skipper John “No Ice” Mengedoht opted to run the line a short distance on starboard and then tack in hopes of avoiding some of the traffic. This worked mostly as planned but the boats starting right at the Committee boat, including rival Zephyr, came out ahead. Once the relative giant (36’) Mata Hari rolled by to windward, Full Moon was ninth heading to the Freeway buoy.

The wind was very light and would remain so throughout the race. Full Moon matched the pace of the fleet across Gasworks Park to the Aurora buoy and, while unable to gain on Zephyr, was mixing it up well with the Thunderbirds and J-24s. Unfortunately, a gravel barge and pusher tug came through under the Freemont Bridge just in time to delay Full Moon from rounding the Aurora buoy.

In deference to the small crew, the vintage 1978 and somewhat porous standard spinnaker was hoisted instead of the mighty Equalizer. This was probably the right choice overall but it was painful not to have the nylon monster to provide the usual speed boost. Still, a move toward the center of the lake did help find a bit more wind and Full Moon closed the gap a bit on Zephyr.

After rounding the ACG buoy to head back upwind, Full Moon managed to hold off the J24 J’Estalt halfway up the leg while gaining a bit more on Zephyr. J’Estalt did manage to get past, though, and after passing the Freeway buoy, Zephyr maintained their lead to the Aurora buoy, where the wind had gone extremely light.

On the second downwind run, it was a challenge to keep the spinnaker flying but Full Moon found the few zones of better wind while many boats closer to the Westlake shore had difficulties. Amazingly, Full Moon managed to pass two J24s, including J’Estalt, the T-bird Selchie, Mata Hari, and a J27 before rounding the AGC buoy. Zephyr, however, remained comfortably ahead.

Full Moon held off any challengers to the finish, placing about eighth followed by Selchie and Mata Hari, the J27, J’Estalt and the rest of the J24s and Thunderbirds. Zephyr finished about fifth while old rivals Ignitor and Fortis were at least half a lap behind. 

Every Which Way but Loose

Dave, Cap'n John, Marcelle, and Don just after leaving the dock.

Milling around before the start in very light air.

That's Full Moon dead center of the photo heading upwind on the first leg.

John, Dave, Daniel, and Marcelle enjoying the sunny weather.

Duck Dodge No. 1 began with a light breeze out of the southwest and sunny skies. Full Moon crew Michael “Supple” Medina, Marcelle “Skirt” Lynde, Don “U-Lock” Caffrey, Dave “Knot Me” Pulsifer, Daniel “Boom” Mengedoht, and skipper John “Guess Which Side” Mengedoht elected to stay away from the pile-up at the favored Committee Boat end of the starting line in hopes of a clear lane but this didn’t pay off. Rival Zephyr, and old rivals Ignitor and Shogun all ended up ahead, though Fortis was somewhere behind.

Full Moon enjoyed swapping tacks with a couple of T-birds and J-24s before rounding the AGC buoy and hoisting the mighty Equalizer spinnaker. The Equalizer performed well until about the middle of the lake when the wind began to die. It soon became obvious that the wind was starting to come out of the north, so the jib went back up and the spinnaker came down to complete the leg to the Freeway buoy.

Crossing past Gasworks Park and heading for the Aurora buoy, Full Moon picked off Shogun but didn’t gain much, if any, on Zephyr or Ignitor. After rounding the buoy, the Equalizer was hoisted again for the second time in a single lap and Full Moon began to reel in 33’ Penelope from the first start. Unfortunately, it proved impossible to pass the bigger boat to leeward. However, Zephyr and a T-bird had stayed to the Westlake side until reminded (ahem!) that they needed to cross the start finish line on the first lap. This brought them across to converge with Full Moon and Penelope close aboard the Committee Boat. Naturally, this was when the wind shut off again and began to fill in from the south!

Unfortunately, Penelope and Zephyr both cleared the dead zone before Full Moon and remained ahead to the AGC buoy to start the second lap. Once again, the Equalizer went up and this time Full Moon sailed a course to pass both Penelope and Zephyr to well to windward before shifting back to the jib once again to cross the doldrums.

Approaching the Freeway buoy, Ignitor was only about 50 yards ahead. Crossing Gasworks Park again, Full Moon slowly gained and eventually pulled ahead. However, the wind was getting very light near the Aurora buoy. Full Moon made it around first and hoisted the Equalizer yet again but the wind died out almost immediately. Down came the Equalizer and the crew went through several tacks trying to make progress out of any hint of breeze. Finally, a wind line began to appear ahead and Full Moon reached it first, zooming away from the pack remaining dead in the water near the buoy. The south wind finally won the lake, filling in very nicely and providing an exhilarating trip to the finish line in the fading light nearly two hours after the start.

With the crazy wind, sail changes, and focus on reeling in our rivals, I am not certain exactly how Full Moon placed but I’ll give it a semi-educated guess of eighth with Ignitor ninth and Zephyr somewhere around twelfth. Meanwhile, with the exception of Salsa (J33), the “fast” boats actually went in first start where they properly belong, a nice change from recent years. Full Moon will never be the fastest boat in second start but it does help to have more reasonable competition!

Ready for the Duck Dodge!

Full Moon was looking a bit scruffy and had a little slime here and there below the water line so she got a quick cleanup last Sunday, to be followed with a more proper scrub and polish as soon as I can get a weekend and a few of the crew together.

Unfortunately, the usually reliable Yamaha F8 outboard would fire and run but not idle without stalling - the minimum running speed would have been a bit scary for shifting into gear. How does this happen when it ran perfectly a month ago??? Without a proper shop manual (Yamaha charges way too much for these and the aftermarket manuals don't cut it for me), I was reticent to mess about with the carburetor but with the first Duck Dodge looming and no time to haul the outboard to a shop, I returned to the boat Tuesday evening and (very carefully!) removed the carburetor.

Fortune smiled upon me - the Yamaha carburetor is a much better design than the one on my old (vintage 80s) Honda 7.5 and it proved easy to access the jets for cleaning. Reinstallation was a bit fiddly lining up the bolts with the air intake, carb, two gaskets, and a spacer (all this was done from the dock with the boat backed up to the dock as close as I dared) but the end result was perfect - the motor now idles very smoothly with no hint of wanting to stall.

There's always more to do, of course, but Full Moon is ready to go for Duck Dodge Committee Appreciation Night next Tuesday. I can't wait!