Crazy Wind!

Counterclockwise: Rebecca, Ian, John and Michael in the prestart.

Full Moon crew Michael “Bun Dip” Medina, Daniel “First Aid” Mengedoht, Ian “I Can Do It” Mengedoht, Rebecca “Two Beers” Herivel, and skipper John “Crazy Ivan” Mengedoht were bumped up to second start for the Pirate Night Duck Dodge, having scored two bronze ducks in third start. The wind was strong out of the Northwest and Full Moon secured a good position on port tack near the favored Committee Boat end. Full Moon did well on the first leg to the Freeway buoy, despite some amazing wind shifts. The second leg featured a huge round-up before the main could be released. Did I mention the wind was strong?

Full Moon passes the Committee Boat to start about fourth.

Once around the Aurora buoy, there was no need for a spinnaker, Full Moon reaching over 7 knots at times with just the jib and main, flying south to the AGC buoy. By this time, the 40 foot and larger boats had finally caught up (sometimes size does matter), with Leo Kai forcing a squeeze around the buoy, causing side-to-side contact between several boats. Once around, it was nearly a straight shot back to the starting line to begin the second lap.

Full Moon is "wing and wing" approaching the AGC buoy. Tight squeeze ahead!

The wind was a bit lighter at this point, apart from gusts, and Full Moon had good speed around the Freeway buoy. Approaching the Aurora buoy, an inattentive power boat driver forced an unplanned tack and a cabin cruiser was making apparently random turns. You need a head on a swivel on Lake Union!

With the pole set for starboard jibe and wind now lighter and directly out of the north, Full Moon headed toward the center of the lake with jib and main before jibing and finally hoisting the Equalizer. This worked fine until the wind inexplicably shut down completely for several agonizing minutes! Down came the Equalizer as Full Moon drifted slowly southward. The wind eventually filled back in enough to reach the AGC buoy. The final upwind leg was uneventful, Full Moon finishing somewhere in the middle of the fleet though well behind the leaders.