Sunny Mardi Gras

Full Moon (far right) on approach to the AGC buoy. The eventual third place boat is on the left with the blue spinnaker.

Full Moon crew Michael “Zoomer” Medina, Marcelle “Origami” Van Houten, Daniel “Holy Hell” Mengedoht, Kristen “Sta-lo” Rue, and skipper John “Not Sorry” Mengedoht went with a starboard tack start for the Mardi Gras Duck Dodge, sixth across the line. This was a safe choice, given a crowded start line and strong wind, though boats able to get through on port tack enjoyed an advantage. Others (behind us) were apparently not so lucky with some collisions and close calls!

Daniel enjoys the post-race sun.

Three tacks later, Full Moon passed the Freeway buoy, then tacked westward near Gasworks to head to the Aurora buoy. After rounding, the Equalizer was soon launched, providing excellent speed on the long broad reaching leg south and allowing Full Moon to gain substantially on boats ahead. With a smooth spinnaker drop just before the AGC buoy, Full Moon nearly passed a couple of boats heading into the final leg.

Marcelle also enjoys a golden glow.

Unfortunately, jibing around the buoy, the jib sheets fouled badly on the spinnaker pole. The resulting lack of speed dropped Full Moon back to seventh at the finish, not at all bad, all things considered.

Missed It by That Much!

Full Moon crew Randy “No Pull” Olsen, Daniel “Pull” Mengedoht, Chad “Shrimper” Harnish, Ben “Gold Hat” Spicer, and skipper John “Consistent” Mengedoht were slightly delayed for the start of the Western Night Duck Dodge due to an untied jib sheet but well positioned for clear air. While crossing the line in sixth or seventh place, this helped with gaining on the boats ahead on the first leg to the AGC buoy.

Full Moon and the Equalizer.

After rounding the buoy, the Equalizer was soon hoisted to good effect, the breeze having shifted from southwest to the west. The question then became whether the center of the course would be best or more toward the east side of the lake. Full Moon passed and then fought off the Catalina 30 Necessary Evil in the middle and was looking good to maybe take the lead when the wind veered strongly into the northwest. This made the spinnaker untenable, and the takedown was ugly, the spinnaker pulling backward then taking a bath. This allowed two boats from the east to slide ahead as well as Necessary Evil before rounding the Freeway buoy.

You can't see the finish line but Full Moon (left) was maybe 10 feet behind Necessary Evil (right).

The leg to the Aurora buoy was hard on the wind and Necessary Evil inexplicably sailed a lower course. (Perhaps they had issues of their own?) Two tacks later, Full Moon was back in front and around the buoy. The final leg was mostly a run but in much lighter wind. A spinnaker would have been beneficial but the Equalizer was a thoroughly soggy pile in the bottom of the cockpit. Necessarily Evil, on the other hand, was able to get a spinnaker up and slowly gained from behind. At the finish line, they were barely ahead to get the horn for third place with Full Moon fourth. All things considered, this was an excellent finish as there were a lot of boats behind us!

No Rain, No Pain

Full Moon is first across the starting line but the J22 SYC4 was better positioned.

Too shorthanded to fly the Equalizer (spinnaker), Full Moon once again raced in fourth start for the Onesie Night Duck Dodge. Crew Daniel “Random Task” Mengedoht, new crew Kristin “Muscles” Rue, and skipper John “Strategerie” Mengedoht managed a great start right on the line. Unfortunately, the J22 SYC 4 was not far behind and closer to the Committee Boat, giving them the lead once we all tacked. Even more unfortunately, there was a t-bone port-starboard collision not far behind us! (We hope the damage was minimal, but the crash was quite loud!)

With clear air and good wind, Full Moon enjoyed good speed on the upwind leg to the AGC buoy, rounding still in second place and ahead of several third start boats. (For some reason, the Race Committee elected to do a clockwise course, which can encourage boats to approach an upwind mark on port tack for an easier and faster rounding, but things went smoothly so far as we saw.) The course to the Aurora buoy was roughly dead downwind so Full Moon went through a few gybes and even ran “wing and wing” at times but still managed to stay even with some boats using spinnakers, passing two just before rounding.

The course to the Freeway buoy was a close reach, providing good speed. The rounding went well, and it was then upwind to the finish line where Full Moon got the horn for second place!

Auspicious Beginning?

 

Full Moon is seen at the left, not long after the start.

Full Moon wasn’t supposed to make it to the first Duck Dodge of 2025 but skipper John “New Toy” Mengedoht got home from a business trip just in time to gather sons Ian “Tactical Ballast” Mengedoht and Daniel “Straight, No Chaser” Mengedoht to join the race in fourth start (no flying sails).

The Mengedoht boys enjoying incredible early May weather.

Unfortunately, the wind was nearly nonexistent, coming weakly out of the south before the start, fading to zero, then reversing to come sporadically and very weakly out of the north. This led to a massive cluster of boats from all the starts barely moving, if at all, struggling to get to the AGC buoy at the south end of the lake. The boats that could fly a spinnaker tried them but with very limited results – a spinnaker is of no value if it won’t fill.

Daniel secures the Bronze Duck from the race committee.

Somehow, Full Moon managed (mostly) to keep moving. The wind returned to a barely felt southerly on approach to the buoy and Full Moon slipped into a gap to go around. Clearing other surrounding boats plus those still heading for the buoy was a challenge but then the wind began to fill in from the north, ultimately sending Full Moon on a fast romp upwind.

One more duck on the mast... We're running out of room!

This continued all the way to the Freeway buoy where the wind faded a little and shifted into the west, setting Full Moon up for a beam reach to the finish line. With the long drift southward, it was difficult to gauge how we were doing but Full Moon received the horn for third place and the Bronze Duck!