Drifter

The crew, heading out onto the lake.

Lots of boats going nowhere crowd the starting line.

Lake Union was flat calm for the Prom Night Duck Dodge. Full Moon crew Michael “Rocker” Medina, Martha “Pearls” Schoemaker, Doug “It’s You!” Schoemaker, Steve “Sordid Past” Pfeiffer, Daniel “Snarky Puppy” Mengedoht, and skipper John “Why Not?” Mengedoht employed rocking to get to the AGC and Chandler’s Cove buoys before hoisting the spinnaker and motoring in reverse to fill it. Needless to say, we weren’t actually racing and it is questionable whether any boat made it around the course (legally) before dark, though a few appeared to be trying. One of the highlights of the evening was watching two swimmers pulling a blue Thunderbird – and they were moving pretty well!

Motoring in reverse to fill the spinnaker.

The sunset was spectacular.

Jinxed!

Full Moon crew Michael “Gridlock” Medina, Dave “Big Pull” Pulsifer, Christian “Local Brew” Grange, Neil “Dad” Piispanen, Calvin “What Is This For” Piispanen, and skipper John “Low Pole” Mengedoht enjoyed a decent start for the Hippies and Hipsters Duck Dodge. Full Moon held starboard tack nearly to the Westlake shore before tacking into clear air. This paid off pretty well, Full Moon crossing ahead of 40’ Thundorca and several other boats before tacking back to round the Freeway buoy.

Next was a tight reach to the Aurora buoy, the wind getting very light for the last third of the leg. After jibing around the buoy, the Equalizer was quickly launched and Full Moon began to reel in a number of boats, including some stragglers from second start. A slightly early douse before the AGC buoy set up a nice tight rounding, followed by a fast close reach to the Chandler’s Cove buoy.

Returning upwind, it appeared there were still a number of boats in front of Full Moon but it was hard to tell how many. We didn’t see it happen but, somewhere on this leg, the zippy J22 Jinx lost her mast! We didn’t hear any collision so it may have been a hardware failure (shrouds) but the word is nobody got hurt and the crew were able to gather up the mess and get the boat safely back to the dock. Good work, guys, and we hope to see you back on the lake soon!

Once the rain began to clear out, we were treated to a double rainbow!

Meanwhile, Full Moon had her hands full battling some bigger boats from second start, fortunately being able to outpoint them until they tacked away. Approaching the Freeway buoy on port tack, a different pair of bigger boats on starboard tack were converging. A smooth tack brought Full Moon into a perfect “lee bow” position and the two boats tacked away.

The sunset was also spectacular!

The next leg was very similar to the first lap, though the wind was even lighter near the Aurora buoy. Full Moon launched the nylon monster for the southbound leg, passed a few more boats from second start, and began to slowly close the gap on the Capri 25 Tailwind. After a hasty spinnaker douse, Full Moon again hugged the AGC buoy and romped toward the Chandler’s Cove buoy nearly close-hauled. For whatever reason, Tailwind was on a track further to leeward, along with two second start boats (including our old rival Ignitor). Full Moon was able to round the buoy in front of Tailwind and then hold position to the finish line where we were greeted by a toot of the horn – and some rain. Having figured on being fourth place at best, this was a very pleasant surprise, Full Moon actually finishing second behind always-competitive Tuesday (Columbia 26).

No Western Night

With a sick skipper, Full Moon sat out the Duck Dodge Western Night but we should be back next week for Hippies and Hipsters Night. Congratulations to third start winners Tailwind, Chola/Geoff, and Wandering Angus.

Duck Bronzesty

Chad takes a selfie!

Full Moon crew Dave “Tangled” Pulsifer, Judy “Helper” Tiffany, Chad “Sunscreen” Harnish, Daniel “Haircut” Mengedoht and skipper John “Big Move” Mengedoht enjoyed an excellent start in beautiful weather near the “pin” end of the line for the Duck Dodgesty Duck Dodge. Slippery When Wet (Santana 20) held position ahead to and to windward to slow Full Moon’s progress to the Freeway buoy but Full Moon was able to hold off Summer Sled (Harbor 20) and a J22 before rounding.

 

It was gorgeous out there, unusual for early June!

A tack soon after the buoy took Full Moon out of a lot boat traffic (sailing and drifting power boats) and into better breeze crossing the north end of Lake Union. This provided a huge gain, Full Moon slipping into the lead in third start and passing a number of second starts boats as well before rounding the Aurora buoy.

 

Full Moon takes the bronze!

Once launched, the Mighty Isis (aka “Equalizer” spinnaker) helped Full Moon speed south on a romping beam reach to the AGC buoy. Unfortunately, the take-down had some issues and Full Moon spent agonizing minutes on the final upwind leg with the jib flapping uselessly. This allowed a couple of second start boats to slide past as well as eventual winner Jinx and second place Summer Sled. Once Full Moon got going, though, nobody else threatened to pass and Full Moon secured a still-excellent third place finish.

Another duck to add to the mast.

Not Quite Royalty

Full Moon just after the start.

The weather forecasters were a bit off for the Game of Thrones Duck Dodge, a large cloud dumping rain about 6:00 and soaking the boat, not to mention some distant rumblings of thunder. Full Moon crew Randy “Bluetooth” Olsen, Chuck “No Brakes” Weldy, Kristin “Electrocuted” Gasper, Kevin “Amazonia” Gasper, and skipper John “Slow Starter” Mengedoht were a bit late to the starting line, thereby missing a tight cluster of boats trying to clear the Committee Boat. A quick tack toward the Westlake shore soon provided clear and better breeze, allowing Full Moon to pass a number of boats before rounding the AGC buoy.

Chuck, Kristin, John, Randy, and Kevin enjoying the lack of rain.

The wind for the northbound leg was initially very light and from dead astern but soon filled in more from the west, filling the mighty Equalizer for a reasonably zippy reach. This got Full Moon past a few more boats while gaining on a Capri 25 and Duck Dodge veteran Tuesday (Columbia 26). Full Moon finally caught up to the Capri at the Freeway buoy but the Capri had the inside line to round ahead.

Tuesday, Capri 25 and Full Moon doing a mobile phone ad.

A tack to get out of the Capri’s wind shadow paid off well for most of the leg to the Aurora buoy but then the wind faded approaching the buoy, allowing the Capri to just retain their lead. Full Moon then took a hitch to leeward on the final leg in hopes of getting a little separation but the Capri didn’t falter, pulling ahead about 50 feet.

Full Moon approaches the Committee Boat.

Assuming we were well out of contention with the late start, Full Moon didn’t aggressively defend position when a J22 came up from behind. Much to our surprise, the Capri got the horn for second place followed by the J22 in third. Full Moon was all of two boat-lengths out of the top three!