No Rum Fun

Full Moon was all set for the Rum Run last Saturday but skipper John began feeling poorly Thursday and didn't see any improvement Friday - or Saturday. It was hard to miss this race, which turned out to have light but adequate wind and minimal rain (if any), but the prospect of a full day on the boat with no heat (other than rum) was not looking like any fun. We were there in spirit, though, and hope to be there next year!

Rum Run 2014 start.

Wet Martinis

Michael "helps" Tammy load the boat.

Apart from a few drops on Tropical Night, no rain fell on a Duck Dodge all summer – until the final race, that is, when a summer’s worth of rain all came down at once! Crew Randy “Quick Knot” Olsen, Michael “Giant Nuts” Medina, Marcelle “Queen of Sheba” van Houten, Tammy “Poncho” Cross, Dave “Baba Ganoush” Pulsifer, Judy “Is That All You’ve Got?” Tiffany, Daniel “Bare Hands” Mengedoht, and skipper John “Crazy Ivan” Mengedoht were dampened, not discouraged, and well prepared to celebrate “Martini Night,” Full Moon’s theme for the evening.

 

Heading out into the rain.

Officially, of course, it was Committee Re-appreciation Night. Dropping off the usual appreciation gift for the Race Committee proved somewhat perilous, though, as Full Moon, motoring slowly, was nearly run over by the giant J145 Jedi, which unexpectedly went into reverse without looking behind them!

Beagle braves the downpour.

Once clear of traffic and dialed into the starting sequence, Full Moon lined up for a decent start on starboard tack behind the T-bird Zoe and the J24 Beagle. Unfortunately, a Santa Cruz 27, Zipper, had some issues right at the line, causing Full Moon to fall off a bit and lose a bit of ground. Once going and a bit farther up the first leg, Zipper then had trouble tacking at the last second to avoid a large white boat on starboard. All this caused Full Moon to hold off on tacking for a while but the tack, when it came, provided Full Moon a perfect line to the Freeway buoy in the puffy and shifty wind.

 

Judy, Dave, and John enjoy the rain.

Rounding the buoy in 8^th place, Full Moon tacked for the tight reach past Gasworks as the wind faded a bit. A nice jibe set at the Aurora buoy brought up the mighty Equalizer and Full Moon headed for the center of the lake, constantly playing the spinnaker and altering course to try and keep the nylon monster full. The middle of the lake paid off well as Full Moon picked off a few boats and gained on Gift Horse, a fast 27-footer, as well as Beagle.

 

Daniel stays dry while Randy and Judy share a laugh.

After rounding the AGC buoy, Gift Horse was moving slowly and Full Moon tacked to get clear before tacking back to avoid oncoming spinnaker traffic. Approaching the eastern side of the lake, Full Moon crossed in front of Gift Horse with a thin margin and then enjoyed a nice lift to get within striking distance of Beagle. In the end, though, Gift Horse managed third place behind a J24 and Zoe with Beagle taking fourth and Full Moon fifth, only a few seconds behind.

 

Full Moon heads east before tacking to the starting line.

To recap the summer season, not counting Cap’n John, a whopping 28 different people were part of the Full Moon racing crew at some point. This included 12 brand new crew members introduced to Priorities 1-4 (personal safety, boat safety, HAVING FUN, sailing well), learning to trim and tack the jib, and helping to bring in the spinnaker.

 

The sun poked through now and then as the third start fleet heads past Gasworks.

Our performance highlights were placing third in the very first race and placing fifth three times. Apart from Over the Hill Night (with the Distance debacle) and Wedding Night, Full Moon was always in the top half of the fleet and often in the top third. We had relatively good success vs. the T-birds, none of them beating Full Moon with regularity, though there was often one of them ahead at the finish. Arch-rival Zephyr managed to place in front only four times.

 

Full Moon flies the Equalizer en route to the AGC buoy.

Apart from the finale, the weather was amazing, with lots of sun and usually decent wind as well. Most importantly, we had fun out there. Next up: The Rum Run!

Slo-mo-shun!

Lots of boats on the lake!

The Wedding Night Duck Dodge continued our amazing warm, sunny weather and light wind pattern. Full Moon crew Michael “Padre” Medina, Marcelle “Flapper” van Houten, Christian “Top Hat” Grange, Neil “Wedding Crasher” Piispanen, Daniel “Blue Box” Mengedoht, and skipper John “Edison” Mengedoht were fairly well positioned for the start but an initial tack onto port had to be aborted to clear oncoming starboard tack boats. Then, a decision to favor the east side of the course in hopes of clear air proved disastrous as the wind proved much better toward the middle of the lake.

Bride with Beer.

By the end of the extremely painful first leg to the Freeway buoy, Full Moon was deep toward the back of the second start fleet and had been passed by a number of third start boats plus some dinghies from fourth start. The only good news: the Thunderbird Selchie, which had gotten hung up on the buoy, had freed herself before Full Moon arrived! Thankfully, the wind picked up on the second leg to the Aurora buoy and the spinnaker reach/run to the AGC buoy briefly brought Full Moon’s speed up over six knots.

Second start. Full Moon is somewhere to the left, going slow...

Good speed heading back upwind finished the first lap but it was difficult to tell if the Race Committee had finished the second start (we saw at least one second start boat with headsail down) or whether we were on for the full two laps. With our old rival Zephyr ahead and still sailing, though, Full Moon continued racing.

First downwind leg. Full Moon is at the far left, way back there!

After rounding the Freeway buoy, Full Moon gained a bit on Zephyr. A nice turn at the Aurora buoy with a quick hoist of the Equalizer brought additional hope of catching our rival but Zephyr maintained good speed all the way to the AGC buoy. The final leg upwind brought no change and Zephyr finished ahead by 50 yards. Meanwhile, the beer and Prosecco were ice cold, the evening comfortably warm, and a great time was had by all.

Toga, Toga, Toga!

The start was fairly crowded. Full Moon is just to the right of the yellow boat.

The threatened clouds held off for another dry Tuesday and the Toga Night Duck Dodge. Full Moon crew Art “Skirt” Teller, Chad “Skirt Me” Harnish, Dave “Silver Bullet” Pulsifer, Julia “Milk Maid” Horner, Daniel “Music Deprivation” Mengedoht, and skipper John “No Spinnaker” Mengedoht enjoyed a decent start, clear of a tight knot of boats at the Committee Boat but a few seconds later than ideal. A large Catalina blocked the light wind for a while on a tight reach but Full Moon worked clear to windward and around before closing up on the sterns of speedy Scat and several J24s just before rounding the AGC buoy.

The Full Moon crew enjoys having a little wind on the second leg.

The next leg had wind that alternated between decent and very light with an E-Scow gaining in the stronger stuff and Full Moon gaining in the lighter air. It was a fairly straight shot to the Freeway buoy and, once around, Full Moon just hardened up a few degrees before tacking toward the Aurora buoy. Delaying the tack paid off well as Full Moon was able to fetch the buoy without a tack.

The sun heads for the horizon all too early as Full Moon crosses the north end of the lake.

The course required going through the finish line on the first lap in case the course was shortened, though a number of boats appeared to have forgotten this. With a fairly tight reach, Full Moon elected once again to use the jib rather than the spinnaker. With the wind filling in, this provided the most speed of the evening and Full Moon passed and then stayed just ahead of the J30 Slingshot to take a very respectable 12^th place in what did turn out to be a one-lap race.

Tropic Thunder

Very light air at the start.

The threatened thunderstorms never appeared for the Tropical Night Duck Dodge, and the rain (mostly) held off until after the race, which ran into the dark in predominantly light winds. Full Moon crew Art “Coy” Teller, Randy “Emma Stone” Olsen, Kelly “Malibu” Laleman, Erin “Dos Equis” Osberg, Daniel “Boombox” Mengedoht, and skipper John “Turn It Down!” Mengedoht had a decent start near the middle of the very long starting line, though behind arch-rival Zephyr (San Juan 28). The wind filled in a bit heading toward the AGC buoy, allowing Full Moon to pick off a yellow Thunderbird and gain a little on Zephyr. From the AGC, it was a short leg to the floating “island” sponsored by 48 Degrees North, Marine Servicenter, and Fremont Brewing to grab some free beer (which was quite good) and an even shorter leg to the Chandler’s Cove buoy, which Full Moon nearly missed (and a few other boats did miss…).

The "island" is ready to dispense beer.

Runaway on the first spinnaker leg.

The “Mighty Isis” spinnaker was then launched and Full Moon took a fairly direct course northward while Zephyr and the Norlin 34 Runaway trended a bit to the west. Full Moon’s course and/or ability to keep moving in the light air paid off as Full Moon got past Zephyr and Runaway as well as the T-bird Zoe before rounding the Freeway buoy. Zoe got back ahead briefly to leeward on the long trip back south until Full Moon found a bit more breeze and pulled ahead for good.

Full Moon pulls ahead of Runaway and Zephyr.

After rounding the AGC buoy and swinging by the “island” again (which was, unfortunately, out of beer), Full Moon was overtaken by Runaway, which had skipped the island. (The island was part of the course…) After rounding the Cove buoy, the spinnaker was launched for a very light air run with Full Moon again favoring a fairly direct course to the Freeway buoy and Runaway choosing to jibe a few times at a “hotter” wind angle. Full Moon still managed to pass Runaway before rounding the Freeway buoy and then stayed in front in the dying breeze and dying light to the finish line to place what we believe was fifth.

Drifter

The Prom Night Duck Dodge finally brought the very light winds common to late summer, though it would hard to fault the sunny skies and warm temperatures. Full Moon crew Randy “One Hit Wonders” Olsen, Michael “Booksitter” Medina, Allison “Prom Queen” Bahe, Jonathan “Quick Study” Bahe, Daniel “DJ” Mengedoht, and skipper John “Mirror Ball” Mengedoht were held up on final approach to the starting line by a  barely moving 3^rd start boat and ended up crossing a full minute and a half late. There was a line of wind about halfway down the leg but it seemed to take forever to get to it and, of course, the boats that got there first pulled way ahead.

Full Moon is nearly dead center under the crane. This was the second leg of the race.

Undeterred, Full Moon gained slowly on a knot of boats converging at the AGC buoy and, once around, held off jibing to get some separation before launching the spinnaker. This paid off quite well as Full Moon benefitted from the occasional puff of wind to pass quite a few boats, even catching up to speedy Scat at one point. The wind then shifted from SW to NW and the spinnaker was quickly brought down, maybe a bit too quickly as Full Moon did a little “shrimping.” Soon after, Scat was able to slide past to windward and hold the inside line to the Freeway buoy.

Full Moon chasing Scat on the final leg.

Full Moon held off tacking at the Freeway buoy, choosing a course closer to Gasworks for the leg to the Aurora buoy. This proved to be a wise decision as Full Moon crossed ahead of Scat further on, though Scat managed to poke back in front before rounding the buoy.

Another gorgeous evening on the lake.

The leg south was now a broad reach and the Equalizer was hoisted, though it went up with a twist. The light air made it fairly easy to rectify but Scat took advantage to pull farther ahead. With such light wind, the question was whether the Race Committee would call the race after one lap or not. There was a double blast of the air horn at one point but it came among blasts for finishing boats from 3^rd start so it was hard to determine if it meant anything. A few boats had obviously quit racing but Full Moon kept going to the AGC buoy, just in case. At that point, it was pretty clear that the racing was done and Full Moon converted to cruiser mode, drifting slowly northward to catch the sunset.

Sailing Reindeer

Jeremy and Kate - always photogenic!

Full Moon crew Michael “Jibe Talkin” Medina, Don “Mis-Tack” Caffrey, Kate “You Do It” Austin, Jeremy “Where’s My Wig” Jones, and skipper John “Falling Antlers” Mengedoht came prepared with antlers and Rudolf noses for the Christmas in July Duck Dodge on yet another sunny, warm Tuesday evening. Full Moon set up for a starboard tack start near the east end of the line but got the timing mixed up when the Race Committee failed to signal the first start and crossed the line a full minute late. This may have been a good thing, though, as there was apparently a collision between the J24 Fat Chance and the J80 Heart Attack and Full Moon was well clear of any of that.

Cap'n John sports wind-blown antlers.

Heading upwind to the Freeway buoy, Full Moon had a good turn of speed in a nice breeze and began to reel in a few boats, rounding the buoy in about 20^th place. It was then a straight shot west on a tight reach to the Aurora buoy. The mighty Equalizer went up smoothly for a port jibe run down the lake but the wind became very light and shifty, slowing progress. Even so, Full Moon still picked off a boat or two and gained a bit on rival Zephyr (San Juan 28) the Thunderbird Selchie plus the speedy Hotfoot 27 Flash Point.

Thundorca makes a nice Committee Boat.

A group of boats converged at the AGC buoy, unfortunately with Full Moon on the outside. The Equalizer came down cleanly and the rounding was smooth and, once clear, Full Moon took off upwind. About 2/3 up the lake, Full Moon crossed tacks with Zephyr but had to duck as Zephyr was on starboard. This was repeated in the opposite fashion at the next crossing and Full Moon pulled ahead for good with a nice line to the Freeway buoy.

Jeremy trims the jib as Full Moon scoots past Gasworks Park.

The leg to the Aurora buoy was again a straight shot on a starboard reach. There was a brief delay hoisting the Equalizer due to some pole issues, then Full Moon took off on what was now a beam reach as the wind had shifted to the northeast. The T-birds Valkyrie and Selchie were battling each other, which allowed Full Moon to make some gains but Full Moon couldn’t get past them to leeward. Meanwhile, the J24 Beagle took a course farther to windward and eventually got past all three boats. Flash Point was also in the thick of things as the boats converged at the AGC buoy. Full Moon was again outside but also just a bit behind the group of boats. This created an opportunity to tack into clear air just past the buoy while the others continued in a tight mass on port tack at roughly 90 degrees to the desired course to the finish!

Selchie and Valkyrie battle on the second lap. Full Moon is out of the picture to the right.

The group eventually broke up and the chase was on with Valkyrie directly behind Full Moon, Flash Point off to the east in clear air, and Selchie and Beagle farther back. Flash Point steadily chipped away at Full Moon’s lead but the others could not make any gains. In the end, Full Moon held on to beat Flash Point by inches to take about tenth place, a great finish given the competition and the late start. 

Damage Report

6 inch gash - ouch!

The damage to Full Moon’s hull from the collision with Distance on July 8 went most of the way, but thankfully not all the way through the fiberglass laminate. Rather than disturb the intact portion any further or open up a larger patch area on the outside, I’ve elected to clean up and fill the gouge with a white epoxy putty filler from the outside and then apply fiberglass reinforcement layers on the inside to make up for the loss of strength.

First layer of epoxy filler.

The good news about the damage is that, apart from a bit of minor scratching, it is confined to one of the red hull stripes. The red paint is old and faded and I won’t get a great color match but I’d rather deal with that than try to match the “white” gelcoat. And if the painted patch stands out too much, I can always repaint the stripes entirely, perhaps the next time I get the boat hauled out.

Pajamarama

Erin, Ian, and Chad enjoy the first reach down the lake under spinnaker.

The Pajama Night Duck Dodge continued our amazing string of hot sunny days combined with a pleasant northerly breeze to cool things off. Full Moon crew Marcelle “Ducky” Lynde, Michael “Beer Management” Medina, Erin “Shorts” Osberg, Chad “Pants” Harnish, Ian “Big Pull” Mengedoht and skipper John “Big Move” Mengedoht went for a conservative starboard tack start near the Committee Boat. The other end of the line was highly advantaged, though, so this proved a poor choice. (The plan was to have been farther down the line at the horn. Oh, well!) Three tacks later, Full Moon rounded the Aurora buoy somewhere in the middle of the fleet and quickly hoisted the Equalizer. This helped considerably as Full Moon caught up to a large group of boats, including our old rival Ignitor, on a long beam reach south down the lake.

Father and Son, post-race, with our spiffy new duck flag (thanks, Marcelle!)

 Unfortunately, catching up is not quite the same as passing and Full Moon ended up just behind the group doing a “pinwheel” rounding of the AGC buoy with no room to go anywhere but to leeward of everyone as they jibed around. Once clear of the traffic, Full Moon did well upwind, gaining back most of what had been lost at the buoy. After rounding the Freeway buoy, Full Moon romped westward to the Aurora buoy, finally passing Ignitor and a few other boats in the process.

 

Another glorious evening on the lake comes to a close.

With another smooth launching of the Equalizer, Full Moon headed south with good speed, picking off a few more boats, including two T-birds. Approaching the AGC buoy, Full Moon was able to get to leeward and inside the T-bird Valkyrie, which was also inside of a few other boats and rival Zephyr. This allowed Full Moon to pass four or five boats in one shot rounding the buoy and be nicely positioned for the upwind leg. After rounding the Freeway buoy, it was a tight reach to the finish line in a good breeze. Zephyr threatened a bit from behind (it is a bigger boat) but could not overcome Full Moon’s lead. In the end, Full Moon was about 15th, ahead of three T-birds and behind two others – a great recovery from the poor start.

Ouch!

Art enjoys his perch in the sun on the first leg. Doug Schoemaker photo.

Full Moon crew Libby “Montana” Hinsley, Randy “Sun Chips” Olsen, Art “The Knife” Teller, Doug “Boom” Schoemaker, and skipper John “Shaken, Not Stirred” Mengedoht came out for yet another stunning warm, sunny evening with a good breeze out of the north. Full Moon went for a conservative start on starboard tack, if a bit early, and ended up too far down the line before tacking at the start. Boats starting closer to the Committee Boat did much better and Full Moon wallowed in bad air for much of the first leg.

New sailor Libby gets the hang of trimming the jib. Doug Schoemaker photo.

After a mildly congested rounding of the Freeway buoy, Full Moon finally found a bit of clear air and made up a little ground crossing the lake to the Aurora buoy. Unfortunately, a large ship emerged from under the Fremont Bridge and Full Moon steered south to stay out of its way. As the ship moved slowly forward, a zone about 30 yards wide was left between the ship and the buoy and Full Moon was able to tack into this gap. All was looking good until encountering the Buchan 37 Distance pointing nearly head-to-wind but using momentum to round the buoy. This caused some tense moments but Full Moon stayed clear and made it around before launching the spinnaker for a fast run down the lake, passing a number of boats.

Ship ahoy! Stay clear! Doug Schoemaker photo.

Distance had fallen quite a bit behind but began to catch up approaching the AGC buoy. They eventually developed an overlap to leeward when Full Moon was about 50 feet from the buoy (from my perspective) but did not hail for room at the buoy or hail for Full Moon to come up to windward or even maneuver further to windward themselves. As a result, Distance’s course did not carry them around the buoy and they jibed just past it. Full Moon, meanwhile, had dropped the spinnaker, rounded the buoy, and also jibed, leaving both boats running parallel on port tack with Full Moon several feet to leeward.

Randy enjoys the ride downwind. Doug Schoemaker photo.

Distance approaches from behind. Doug Schoemaker photo.

What happened next is in dispute. Distance’s skipper apparently believes that I intentionally maneuvered to hit Distance. From my point of view, Distance made an unexpected turn to port (into the wind) and, as the boat pivoted, her stern moved toward Full Moon, the aluminum toe rail on her stern quarter putting a deep gouge in Full Moon’s port side. As Distance began to turn (again, from my point of view), I yelled “Watch your stern!” and my faithful crewman of 19 years, Randy Olsen, moved to fend off. Fortunately, Randy stopped before putting a foot or hand between the boats. Boats can be repaired more easily than humans.

As you may imagine, some yelling then ensued between boats. My boat was damaged and I was not happy about it. (Distance’s toe rail, on the other hand, looked fine.) My crew had seen what had happened and were also upset. We also did not understand how Distance’s crew could think that we were in any way at fault.

[In hindsight, I believe that Distance’s skipper may have been distracted by getting things sorted after their spinnaker takedown and was simply unaware that his boat was turning. Meanwhile, if I were out to cause a collision, turning into Distance would have caused my bow or port side to hit Distance’s starboard side and not her stern quarter. Alternatively, if I had turned away, my stern was behind Distance’s stern and my pivot point is much shorter (due to the boat being 12 feet shorter) and if anything would have hit Distance, I think it would have been my outboard (which would also have required a very radical turn). Beyond that, there would have to be the question of why I would want to initiate a collision. Distance’s skipper has alleged that I am a super-aggressive win-at-all-costs kind of guy. That is not, of course, how I see myself or how my crew views me, either, but let’s just say that was true. What would I stand to gain by purposely hitting another boat?]

Regardless, Full Moon sailed on toward the Freeway buoy, once again putting a considerable lead on Distance. Unfortunately, the wind began to fade approaching the buoy and Distance caught up, her skipper and crew initiating another exchange of words. Shaken by both the collision and the ongoing verbal exchange, I lost track of the buoy and ended up in irons, barely making it by without touching it. Distance sailed on by, her crew laughing at our predicament.

We continued around the rest of the course without incident and finished the race. Other than not being dead last, I have no idea what place we were in. I remain shaken by the collision three days later and have had to consider whether racing in the Duck Dodge is really worth it. I don’t like having damage to the boat I’ve loved and held onto for 28 years and it sure doesn’t feel good having a bunch of people screaming at me and my crew when we haven’t done anything wrong. I know people who have quit because the risk was too much for them or because their boat was damaged in a collision. This season has been the worst I can ever remember for collisions in the Duck Dodge and it is only half over. At the same time, I love sailing and love being out there on the lake with some truly fun and outstanding people.

Moving forward, I wish Mr. Dolan and the crew of Distance all the best. I can hope that, once everyone has calmed down, there might be some room to consider my point of view on the collision but, even if not, we are all sailors enjoying the sport we love and doing our best to have fun out there.

As a reminder, anyone is welcome to comment on my blog posts - just click on the little envelope at the end. I will, of course, block any that are offensive but am happy to post anything constructive - whether I agree with them or not.

Muy Caliente!

Thundorca makes a nice Committee Boat.

The Red, White, and Blue Duck Dodge broke temperature records for July 1 and the north breeze on Lake Union felt wonderful. Full Moon crew Chuck "Duct Tape" Weldy, Michelle "How Hard Could It Be" Mathison, Kelly "Second Hand" Laleman, Christian "Patriotic Cans" Grange, and skipper John "Careful Instructions" Mengedoht lined up for the favored port tack start near the "pin" end of the starting line but had to delay the start a bit to avoid starboard tack boats with right of way. The upwind leg to the Aurora buoy went smoothly, though, and a single tack was all that was needed for a good rounding.

A wall of starboard tack boats getting ready for second start.

The Equalizer was soon up and flying for a very fast beam reach straight down the lake to the AGC buoy. This put Full Moon up in the top ten boats for sure with a fairly large gap to the rest of the fleet. The Equalizer didn't want to come down very fast with the wind beam-on but it was collected into the cockpit, slightly wet, before a slightly chaotic rounding of the AGC buoy. The next leg to the Freeway buoy was another straight shot, just cracked off a bit from beating upwind.

Full Moon (lower left) chases a T-bird and a J24 upwind on the first lap.

Full Moon took a slightly southerly route to the Aurora buoy, which worked out well until getting pinned to leeward of the T-bird Invader. Invader eventually tacked and Full Moon followed after dodging a few boats under spinnaker. The rounding went smoothly for Full Moon but not so much for the boats ahead as the big Beneteau 36S7 Vivace shoved their way inside with no overlap rights. I guess if you are late for first start, you do what you have to do?

Michelle dances for her friends on Invader.

It's a loon, not a duck, but still seemed appropriate...

The second spinnaker reach was slow to get going (hardware challenges!) and it proved difficult to get past the giant wind shadow of the first start boat Penelope to leeward but Full Moon finally popped out in front about 100 yards from the AGC buoy. The takedown went a bit better this time around and Full Moon was off again upwind to the Freeway buoy. Unfortunately, boats returning to the finish line were all in line for head-on collisions so all hands were alert to keep that from happening. Full Moon was able to use the oncoming traffic to advantage to hold off hard-charging Slingshot (J30) until just before the buoy. Then it was around and back into traffic for the finish.

Full Moon rounds the AGC buoy on the final lap.

Full Moon chases Slingshot around the Freeway buoy.

In the end, it appeared Full Moon finished about eighth, though word from an onshore observer was that two T-birds in front of us neglected to round the Freeway buoy on the last time around! Either way, it was a fabulous evening dodging the fleet of drifting power boats, kayaks, and paddle boards and enjoying the breeze. It was also great to beat the very fast Hotfoot 27 Flash Point for the first time this season!

The raft-up was still going strong in fading light...

Light Wind in the Wild West

Full Moon's vote for the Black Duck was this Catalina Canoe.

The Western Night Duck Dodge featured mild to sometimes nonexistent wind out of the southwest along with clearing skies and fairly warm temperatures. Full Moon crew Marcelle “Holy Shoes” Lynde, Dave “New Shoes” Pulsifer, Judy “No Shoes” Tiffany, Michelle “Sporty Shoes” Mathison, Daniel “Blue Shoes” Mengedoht and skipper John “Old Shoes” Mengedoht maneuvered for a fairly decent start near the Committee Boat but still got stuck in bad air from several boats and no good opportunities to tack for clear air. Eventually, things cleared out enough to tack to the west but this still involved ducking several boats on starboard tack. Fortunately, the next tack saw those same boats needing to duck behind Full Moon!

Full Moon flies the Equalizer on the second leg.

With lots of oncoming traffic at the AGC buoy, Full Moon delayed hoisting the mighty Equalizer spinnaker for a short while but then made good use of the nylon monster with a speedy beam reach straight to the Freeway buoy. This included passing a few boats to finally get into the front half of the fleet and leaving boats such as rival Zephyr well behind.

A line of third start boats heading for the finish. It was gorgeous out there!

After a clean drop of the spinnaker, it was another straight shot upwind to the Aurora buoy. The next leg was a fairly close reach back to the Committee Boat. The J24 Beagle was gaining from behind but chose to try and pass to windward between Full Moon and another boat. Full Moon called “leeward!” and attempted to head Beagle up before it was too late but Beagle forged ahead between boats and didn’t even attempt to get the other boat to change course. (Memo to Beagle: In a serious race, that would have cost you a protest or penalty turn – don’t try to pass to windward unless you have room to head up!) Oh, well, it is the Duck Dodge…

Full Moon enjoys the sunset after the race.

After rounding the AGC buoy, the Equalizer was hoisted again and Full Moon pulled back ahead of Beagle while also gaining on speedy Dreams (Olson 25). Unfortunately, the wind was getting lighter heading toward the Freeway buoy. Full Moon caught up to Dreams with some separation on their leeward side but Beagle was able to ride the following wind longer to get around the leeward side of Full Moon. Full Moon rounded the mark just outside of Dreams while Beagle stayed further out. This benefited Beagle for a while as Full Moon suffered in the wind shadow off Dreams and had to fall off a bit toward Gasworks. Up ahead, though, it was clear that the wind was getting ever lighter, especially closest to the north shore of the lake where Beagle was heading.

A good turnout for the post-race raft-up!

Dreams and Full Moon were just south of the dying breeze and, while Dreams looked like they could make the Aurora buoy, Full Moon was going to have to take a hitch to the south. Full Moon waited patiently for a little more breeze before tacking and then tacking back with a perfect line to the buoy. Unfortunately, a trimaran had come to nearly a dead stop right at the buoy! Dreams stayed wide but Full Moon was able to just tack into the slowly enlarging hole between the trimaran and the buoy. The choice to keep south and good timing for the tacks allowed Full Moon to pass five boats on this one leg, including Beagle and the T-birds Valkyrie and Selchie! Full Moon wasn’t quite done, though, and managed to pass one more J24 and hold off Dreams to cross the line in eighth place, a great result for a challenging race.