Magic Nylon

Yes, that is a fresh duck sticker being applied to the boom!

Full Moon crew Randy “Danish” Olsen, Michael “Chips” Medina, Debra “Duck Luck” Ricard, Fernand “Airflow” Ricard, and skipper John “Wind Wizard” Mengedoht hit the start line right on time for the “Tarts and Vicars” Duck Dodge but were once again closely surrounded by other boats and had to work hard to poke out ahead of the pack. Meanwhile, boats to leeward with clear air took off on a tight reach to the “Freeway” buoy to take the lead spots.

A tight and crowded rounding just behind the Ranger 23 True Blue left a bigger boat close to windward and Full Moon again struggled for clear air. Once free, Full Moon made back some distance but it was clear that boats closer to Gasworks had slightly stronger breeze and a better wind angle – Full Moon was right back with True Blue again at the “Aurora” buoy.

In fairly light wind, the mighty Equalizer doesn’t always shine so brightly and for the first third of the downwind leg, Full Moon mainly just kept pace with other boats. Then boats ahead began to lose steam. Full Moon threaded carefully through the fleet, somehow just keeping the Equalizer full while boats to the left and right struggled with collapsing sails. Old rivals Shogun and Ignitor (from the previous start) fell behind and Fortis was nearly caught as well. At the AGC buoy, the only third start boat in plain view was the San Juan 24 Orca, just behind us!

Pinching off Orca and then forging ahead, Full Moon headed for the finish line. A few horns sounded ahead – were they from first start (two laps but some extremely fast boats), second start (one lap, 5 minutes head start), or Full Moon’s third start? Crossing the line right next to the Committee Boat, Full Moon got the toot for third place and the Bronze Duck!

Finishing not too far behind was the Santana 20 Hot Cookies. Upon learning that Full Moon scored third, her skipper suggested Full Moon really belongs in second start with a faster group of boats (second start is for “half-fast” boats, compared to “fast boats” in first start and “cruising and slower” boats in third). I couldn’t agree more, at least in theory. Full Moon raced second start for many years until invited to switch to third start this summer by the Race Committee. However, when there are boats like Olson 30s allowed in second start, boats like Full Moon can’t hope to be competitive, unlike around 2000 or so when Full Moon would occasionally manage to beat Scat or Dreams to score a duck. Now even Dreams has apparently moved to third start!