Stayin' Alive!

The final 2014 Goosebump Race featured very strong, gusty wind, and a mix of sunshine and rain. Full Moon crew Randy “Pot O’ Gold”Olsen, Michael “Low Rider” Medina, Marcelle “Woo-hoo!” Lynde, Daniel “Video” Mengedoht, and skipper John “Round Up” Mengedoht had a decent start with the big boats and settled into sixth place on the first leg.

Full Moon cruises by the Committee Boat, signaling "first start."

Rounding the AGC buoy, the mighty Equalizer was left in the bag as Full Moon proved plenty fast downwind with just main and jib and there was no reason to push things. The wind died down approaching the Freeway buoy but then filled in again as Full Moon rocketed across the north end of Lake Union with speeds popping up over 7 knots.


Yankee III gives an idea of the wind strength.

Returning upwind after rounding the Aurora buoy, the wind continued strong and big boats Yankee III and Stella Blue got past, along with a Hobie 21. Still, rivals Cinc-O-Sink and Poco Mas were either missing or well behind and, with Tipsy Gypsy also a no-show, it was looking good for a second place overall in the series!

Poco Mas also gets well heeled over.

On the second downwind run, the J30 Slingshot threatened from behind under spinnaker but could not get past Full Moon, again sailing under main and jib, until just after the Aurora buoy. Full Moon still made Slingshot work for it on the final leg but Slingshot prevailed to take ninth, with Full Moon tenth and Poco Mas a bit further back in eleventh.

Randy checks out the full arc rainbow.

As it turned out, Cinc-O-Sink came out but the wind was too much and they returned to the dock rather than risk capsizing (a very real possibility in a 505 dinghy!). Despite dropping one race, Cinc-O-Sink finished fifth overall in the series. Full Moon was, astoundingly, second in the series (it really pays to show up for every race!) with T-bird Poco Mas third just two points back. Many thanks to the Race Committee and to NW Riggers for putting on this winter series!

Collecting the series award for second place!

Popsicle Toes

Full Moon crew Daniel “Frosty” Mengedoht and skipper John “Slushy” Mengedoht had to spend a little time brushing an inch of snow off the boat to get ready for Goosebump Race No. 5. Despite being short-handed, Full Moon got a great start, third across the line behind giant Nimble and the two-man dinghy Bete Noire in very light wind.

On the close reach southeast to the Cove buoy, the 40 foot Yankee III threatened from behind but Full Moon proved hard to pass and held position to round the buoy. Heading back north and upwind, Full Moon tacked to escape the wind shadow of Nimble and stayed toward the east side of the lake, splitting from most of the fleet. At first, this appeared a bad move as Yankee III and T-bird Poco Mas pulled ahead toward the west. Then the wind filled in a little bit on the east side and the more direct course to the Freeway buoy paid off. Full Moon again rounded in third behind Bete Noire, though Yankee III and Poco Mas were not far behind.

Reaching and running across past Gasworks, Yankee III began to catch up again but still could not get by once Full Moon jibed for the final approach to the Aurora buoy. Poco Mas threatened as well, but there wasn’t enough wind to keep their spinnaker full, negating any advantage it might have provided.

Once around the Aurora buoy, Poco Mas lost some ground switching from spinnaker to jib as Full Moon soldiered slowly on toward the finish line. Full Moon gained on Bete Noire but could not quite catch up and crossed the line in third place. Poco Mas was fourth, Yankee III fifth, with Cinc-O-Sink seventh. With Tipsy Gypsy and Surt failing to show, this places Full Moon and Cinc-O-Sink in a tie for second place with Poco Mas just one point back. Smaller boats rule!

"Slushy" adding to the collection of vinyl stickers.

Super Sunday!

Lake Union not long before the race start!

The wind was nearly nonexistent before the start of the Superbowl Sunday Goosebump race, just enough to move. Full Moon crew Randy “Triple Jibe” Olsen, Michael “No. 3” Medina, Eileen “Legion of Boom” McHugh, Daniel “Perfect Pack” Mengedoht, and skipper John “Low and Slow” Mengedoht set up for a port tack start near the “pin” end of the line, with excellent timing for once. Unfortunately, and inexplicably, there was no starting horn from the Committee Boat. Full Moon, Tipsy Gypsy, Nimble, Poco Mas and one or two others all crossed the line anyway only to turn around to restart as the horn sounded a full minute and half late! Fortunately, the wind had filled in enough to make this possible and Full Moon ended up in decent shape, briefly ahead of the fastest boats, though well behind speedy little Cinc-O-Sink, which had wisely chosen to stay back near the starting line.

Full Moon is too hard to see but is heading for the orange buoy for the start, just left of the Aurora Bridge. Glad the wind filled in a bit!

The line to the Freeway buoy was a straight shot on port tack for Full Moon, which rounded in fourth place not far ahead of Poco Mas, thanks partly to Distance allowing Full Moon to tack inside and round the mark. The line to the Aurora buoy then looked like a straight shot on starboard tack but the wind was clearly lighter near the buoy and Full Moon sailed a higher course to buy some room in case the wind shifted. Big but aptly-named Nimble and 33-foot Tipsy Gypsy easily slipped past on this leg (as they should) but the C&C 41 Surt had to work for it, finally getting by just before the buoy as all boats put in a couple of tacks to get around.

The Equalizer went up smoothly with the pole to starboard, anticipating a westerly shift moving south down the lake. Unfortunately, the wind did not cooperate and, after delaying far too long, Full Moon jibed the nylon monster and shifted the jib to the starboard side. Poco Mas and the Ranger 23 Blazing Zipper sailed smarter, jibing sooner and sailing higher angles for more speed in the light air. Surt, on the other hand delayed their jibe way too long, eventually losing the breeze altogether close to the Westlake shore. Naturally, the wind shifted back, and Full Moon jibed again, though the jib stayed in place in anticipation of yet another jibe. That final shift never came and, while Full Moon rounded the AGC buoy just ahead of Poco Mas and Blazing Zipper, the jib could not be hoisted until the spinnaker and pole were down.

Poco Mas and Blazing Zipper both pulled ahead just past the buoy and, halfway up the final leg, giant Surt came roaring by. In the end, while Full Moon gained back some distance on Blazing Zipper, Poco Mas was fifth, Surt sixth, Blazing Zipper seventh, and Full Moon eighth, not bad for being in the first start fleet. Cinc-O-Sink managed third, just ahead of Tipsy Gypsy. Meanwhile, partly by virtue of sailing in every race, Full Moon and Poco Mas are now in a tie for fifth place overall in the series, 4 points behind Cinc-O-Sink.