Fun with Fortis

With very light winds for the start of the Pajama Night Duck Dodge, Full Moon crew Randy “Quik-Pack” Olsen, Tammy “Pink Toes” Cross, Dave “Cheese Board” Pulsifer, Ian “Fabio” Mengedoht, Daniel “Carrot Thief” Mengedoht, and skipper John “Tilted Kilt” Mengedoht attempted a mid-line start in hopes of separating at least a little from all the other boats. Unfortunately, the wind dropped to zero just before the start and Full Moon hadn’t quite made it to the line. When the wind did eventually fill in, Full Moon made the most of it but not before losing a number of places to boats better positioned for the start.

Traffic and following the limited wind took Full Moon nearly to the south end of Lake Union before heading across on port tack toward the AGC buoy. This move was somewhat perilous, given the need to dodge behind starboard tack boats, but still paid off by keeping Full Moon in slightly stronger breeze. Approaching the buoy, though, Full Moon had to duck behind a line of four starboard tack boats and this allowed old rivals Fortis (from the previous start), who arrived slightly later, to sneak inside and round ahead. Thus began a see-saw battle with Full Moon typically gaining the edge between buoys and Fortis having much better luck actually rounding the buoys.

The mighty Equalizer was launched for the long downwind run to the Freeway buoy and a move toward the middle of the lake helped get by a few boats but the wind remained light, barely filling the spinnaker at times. Approaching the buoy, a red Santana 20 cut inside with no rights and bopped the buoy with their bow. Rather than re-round or take a penalty turn (it is, of course, the Duck Dodge…), they simply pulled ahead and stole Full Moon’s wind. Sure enough, this setback set the stage for Fortis to get by once again as the wind finally filled in for the upwind leg to the Aurora buoy.

Full Moon managed to close the gap to Fortis a bit but the wind had shifted to northwest and Full Moon was unprepared to launch the spinnaker for the final leg! Fortis pulled ahead for good (not that it really mattered since Full Moon was in a later start), though Full Moon was still fairly quick without the Equalizer and easily held off anybody from behind. In the end, Full Moon was a very respectable sixth place out of well over twenty boats on a gorgeous sunny evening.