Slow Boat to Gasworks

The first Goosebump Race of 2010 began with extremely light wind. Full Moon crew Randy “Nice Ripples” Olsen, Debra “Winch Wench” Ricard, Michael “Sticky Pants” Medina, Chuck “Rusty” Weldy, and skipper John “Patience” Mengedoht were positioned for the start in the only area with any wind but most other boats were in the same area and it took a while to get moving.

The first “Cove” buoy was nearly a parking lot but Full Moon got a little push of wind to get around inside a cluster of other boats. This move forced Full Moon toward the center of the lake, though, while the breeze remained strongest near the Eastlake shore. Old rival Fortis stayed in the weak breeze and steadily pulled ahead, though Full Moon stayed ahead of a Thunderbird by eventually tacking toward the beach.

Rounding the “Freeway” buoy, it was easy to see many of the lead boats becalmed near the “Aurora” buoy. Full Moon carefully worked every hint of wind and soon caught several boats, including Fortis and the big Buchan 37 Dreamscape, finally rounding the buoy ahead of them both.

The next long leg was anywhere from a beam reach to a run as the fickle wind came and went. The mighty Equalizer was hoisted in hopes that its generous sail area would help a little. After many minutes with limp nylon, a breeze filled in up high, not touching the water to disturb the glassy surface, and Full Moon surged ahead at a whopping two knots. This was enough to get past several boats, including Perfectly Strange, and bring Full Moon up even with speedy Runner!

At the final “AGC” buoy, Runner went wide and Full Moon easily turned inside but then Runner tightened their line and slowly oozed ahead. Full Moon then tacked for better wind to the east. This gamble nearly succeeded as Full Moon almost caught Runner, but Perfectly Strange almost got by in the process. In the end Full Moon was a decent 13th, barely ahead of Perfectly Strange and quite a number of places ahead of Fortis.