Tossing Back a Cold One

Daniel scouts the competition. Michael Medina photo.

Full Moon crew Randy “Otter Pop” Olsen, Michael “Icicle” Medina, Daniel “Klondike Bar” Mengedoht, and skipper John “Creamsicle” Mengedoht lined up for a potentially great port-tack start at the buoy end for Goosebump Race No. 3 but encountered a long wall of boats on starboard tack with no holes to sneak through. The ensuing dive to leeward and late tack to starboard placed us mid-fleet at best. At least it wasn’t our usual overly conservative start!

After clearing the starting line, Full Moon held a good pace to the Aurora buoy. With a decent but very cold breeze and smaller than normal crew, the mighty Equalizer spinnaker was left in the bag. Good old Shogun and a speedy red Santana 20 threatened a bit after getting their own spinnakers up and under control but could not muster the speed to pass.

Returning upwind and then around again for a second lap brought no changes in position, despite forgoing the spinnaker yet again on the second lap. However the breeze dropped considerably for the final downwind leg to the finish line and Full Moon finally launched the Equalizer to ensure nobody overtaking at the end. Full Moon finished a respectable 12th so we are, if nothing else, consistent!