A Star is Born

Suzan and Caroline with a cold post-race beer.

Chuck and Tammy.

"Mr. Gibbs" provides a head massage.

The setting sun melts the Aurora Bridge.

The Race Committee set an exceptionally wide starting line for Duck Dodge No. 11 but, as is so often the case, it was nearly impossible to cross on the favored starboard tack with the wind out of the northwest. Full Moon crew Tammy “Gusher” Cross, Chuck “Butt End” Weldy, Caroline “Fabulous Foredeck” Sneed, Suzan “Pinwheels” Schneider, Daniel “Mr. Gibbs” Mengedoht, and skipper John “Head Massage” Mengedoht went for the middle of the line, hoping for a clear shot to tack onto port at the gun but first were blanketed by the giant Distance, killing precious speed, and then were overlapped by a red Santana 20. This delayed the critical tack and turned a potential great start into a mediocre one.

Cruising upwind to the Freeway buoy, Full Moon struggled to find consistent speed in the shifty and gusty breeze. A tack onto starboard near the buoy forced several oncoming boats to duck behind, though, and an excellent tack right at the buoy (with inside rights) held off two J24s and a Thunderbird so at least the tactics were working!

The next leg to the Aurora buoy was also upwind and the game was on to catch old rival Fortis. This was managed successfully but, given Caroline’s first try on the foredeck, the Equalizer was replaced by the much smaller (and ancient) standard spinnaker. Could Full Moon stay ahead without the Equalizer? A jibe at the Aurora buoy was followed by the spinnaker hoist. Full Moon headed out toward the middle of the lake for stronger breeze while Fortis elected to stay on port jibe nearer the Westlake shore. Full Moon did a clean jibe onto port and the strategy paid off. Full Moon had the inside line to the AGC buoy and rounded ahead into 14th place. Great job, Caroline!
Heading upwind to start the second lap, the wind picked up and Full Moon left Fortis well behind while closing on the Ranger 22 True North and moving into possible striking distance of the Pearson 30 Tenacious, which has had a string of second place finishes this summer. Full Moon caught True North before the Aurora buoy, held them off under spinnaker and then pulled farther ahead upwind to take “lucky” 13th at the finish. Tenacious was nearly caught when they made a blunder under spinnaker but were still just a bit faster than Full Moon and finished 12th.

It was yet another great evening with both sunshine and decent wind, though the sun sets way too early these days!