Not Quite Tropical

The dark sky provided a nice backdrop for the glowing sails at the start.

Where are we going?

Sun through the spinnakers.

It's always a good time on Full Moon!

Full Moon went for a port tack start at the pin once again for the Tropical Night Duck Dodge, which worked just fine except for several large boats with the same idea. Blanketed by the big boats sails, crew Randy “GeoTag” Olsen, Art “American in Paris” Teller, Tammy “Bon Voyage” Cross, Ian “Rusty” Mengedoht, Daniel “Thurston Howell IV” Mengedoht, and skipper John “Islander” Mengedoht struggled for speed until an opportunity finally came to tack into clear air. By this time, Full Moon was well behind the lead boats, though several boats were passed on the remainder of the first leg to the Aurora buoy, including old rival Ignitor.

The Equalizer went up smoothly to start the second leg and, once clear of traffic, Full Moon took off and got by a number of boats on the long reach to the AGC buoy, including several boats from the second start. The next leg to the floating “island” (a Tropical Night exclusive) was challenging as the breeze got lighter and somewhat unpredictable. Full Moon lost a place or two to larger boats but then was able to nail the approach to score a good number of free beers dispensed by the “island” natives.

On the final leg to the finish, Full Moon was able to get ahead of well-sailed Ranger 21 True Blue and the San Juan 28 Zephyr but could not quite catch the deceptively quick Catalina Almond Joy. In the end, Full Moon was a still-respectable ninth out of well over twenty boats. Despite the less than tropical temperature, it was time to break out the rum drinks and celebrate another fun summer evening on the lake.