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...