Snatching Defeat From the Jaws of Victory

Chuck and Bethany working hard...

Caroline smiles for the camera while Cap'n John scans the sails.

Art does another self-portrait with his friend, the Jib.

Bethany carefully observes the spinnaker handling.

Whatever it all means, Daniel is having fun!

Full Moon gambled on a port tack-pin end start for Duck Dodge No. 14 and, while it was necessary to duck two boats, it paid off with full speed, a clear lane, and a straight shot to the Freeway buoy. Crew Art “Legs” Teller, Caroline “Layers” Sneed, Chuck “Three Bags” Weldy, Bethany “Passenger” Madsen, Daniel “Got To Go” Mengedoht, and skipper John “Lost Buoy” Mengedoht got rolled by a J24 but managed to hold off the big Buchan 37 Distance to round the buoy in 7th.

A quick tack onto starboard at the buoy set Full Moon below the line of most of the boats in hopes of a clear lane toward the Aurora buoy but the breeze was actually a bit better closer to Gasworks and a few boats crept ahead, including Distance. Then the Fremont Bridge opened wide to reveal a large gravel barge heading toward the fleet! With a lake full of sailboats coming, the barge tug was wisely moving very slowly and Full Moon was able to round the buoy at a safe distance but many boats behind had a tough time.

The mighty Equalizer spinnaker was soon deployed after the buoy and Full Moon worked slowly up to the blue T-Bird Selchie while keeping pace with Distance and holding off a quick red Santana 20. This was all working rather well until skipper John lost track of the AGC buoy and overshot! Despite the valiant crew quickly lowering the nylon monster, several boats got past, dropping Full Moon from a potential top ten finish.

In the end, Full Moon was a still-decent 12th or so and the ice-cold beer tasted great. The Duck Dodge has enjoyed a seemingly endless string of sunny evenings with decent northerlies and the city glowing in the setting sun is a view that never gets old. If only the sun wasn’t setting quite so early!