Thrice Around!

Yes, that is Shoot the Moon behind, though not for long! Michael Medina photo.

Full Moon crew Debra “Escape Artist” Ricard, Marcelle “Bleeder” Lynde, Michael “Hangman” Medina, and skipper John “Crazy Ivan” Mengedoht enjoyed a good start at the favored end of the line for Goosebump Race No. 1. Relative giant (40 foot) Shoot the Moon soon came roaring up from behind in very breezy conditions but Full Moon was still in an excellent fifth place midway through the first lap.

Flying the ancient standard spinnaker rather than the oversized Equalizer proved the smart choice as Full Moon fairly flew downwind. Rival Runner was a bit faster, though, and the well-sailed Tuesday faster yet, both boats getting by near the end of the spinnaker run. Upwind was another story. Full Moon easily kept pace with Runner and Tuesday, succumbing only to two much larger 36 to 45 foot boats, bigger nearly always being better in strong wind.

The second lap was similar to the first with Full Moon remaining within striking distance of Runner and Tuesday. On the long upwind leg, Full Moon actually got past Runner and closed to right on Tuesday’s transom but it wasn’t quite enough to get by. On the final downwind run (yes, there were three laps), Full Moon elected to forego the spinnaker with the wind rising into the low 20 knot range. Tuesday consolidated her lead and Runner surged ahead, though working hard to manage their spinnaker.

On the final leg to the finish, Full Moon stayed within 20-30 yards of Runner but couldn’t close the gap, finishing an excellent ninth out of some twenty boats. Amazingly, the threatened rain never appeared and the sun even broke out near the end.