Summer Season Recap

Twenty-two different crew members sailed on Full Moon this summer, continuing the tradition of providing the Duck Dodge Experience for lots of people. Unfortunately, skipper John had to miss a whopping five races due to conflicts as Daniel, the fabulous "Cabin Boy," graduated from high school and prepared to start college.

Full Moon raced in both second start and third start this season, as has been discussed previously. In second start, Full Moon had a median finish of sixth, with a best finish of fourth place and a worst of fifteenth. In third start, Full Moon had a median finish of second with one gold, two silvers, and one bronze duck to decorate the mast.

Regardless of starts or finishes, it was a great summer on the water with most races featuring both sunny skies and decent wind, not to mention a great group of people to share the experience.

Full Moon will likely skip the Rum Run but some of her crew may race on another boat. Stay tuned!

Martinis!

The final Duck Dodge is always Martini Night aboard Full Moon, though there is always the customary gift for the Race Committee, given the official theme. With a whopping nine people aboard (adding more than 50% of the weight of the boat itself) plus a desire to race for one lap instead of two, Full Moon elected to go in third start – a reasonable choice given some of the competition (T-birds, J24s).

Not quite a Full Moon record but that's a lot of "crew!"

Crew Randy “Boom Box” Olsen, Marcelle “Magic Fingers” Van Houten, Michael “Pole Control” Medina, Dave “Too Tall” Pulsifer, Judy “Blanket” Tiffany, Camille “Chicken” Elliott, Jean “Big Smile” Van Houten, Rolf “Chute Scooper” Van Houten, and skipper John “Three Olives” Mengedoht approached the line on starboard tack but had to tack to avoid a group of port tackers (tonnage trumps right of way!) and then duck behind another starboard tack boat, resulting in a mediocre start. Suffering in the resulting “dirty” air didn’t help and Full Moon was in about 20^th place at the Freeway buoy.

Third start heads for the Freeway buoy. Full Moon is somewhere behind these boats...

Clear air on the second leg helped a bit, along with some crisp tacking, allowing Full Moon to pick off a few boats before rounding the Aurora buoy and hoisting the mighty Equalizer for the downwind run. While a couple of gybes would have been beneficial, it could have been difficult with all the people crowded on deck so Full Moon made do with sailing nearly dead downwind. The Ranger 22 True Blue did a great job to stay in front until a boat with a cruising chute took them up a bit to windward, opening a lane for Full Moon to get past to leeward. Full Moon also managed to get past a number of other boats on this leg, though most were not flying spinnakers.

Randy and Camille are loving this stuff!

A smooth drop at the AGC buoy and a quick gybe brought Full Moon onto the final leg. Amazingly, Full Moon had nearly caught up to a couple of second start boats and, as the J24 Beagle crossed the line just ahead, a horn sounded for third place. Full Moon was fourth! Tuesday (Columbia 26) was first and Wandering Angus (Thunderbird) took second.

Nightfall comes way too early these days. Would you believe Full Moon beat that big Beneteau?

Once the jib was dropped, it was time to fire up the cocktail shaker and break out the late “dinner” munchies. It was a beautiful evening on the water and a great way to finish the summer season!