Ups and Downs

Mengedohts, large and small

"Big Thud" before the fall

Michael and Marcelle

Prepare to be Equalized!

Full Moon crew Marcelle “Where’s My Cup?” Lynde, Debra “Any Cup Will Do” Ricard, Michael “Bagarita” Medina, Dave “Big Thud” Pulsifer, Daniel “Golden Boy” Mengedoht and skipper John “What Next?” Mengedoht were well outfitted with beads and masks for the Mardi Gras Duck Dodge. With winds just north of westerly, a port tack start was strongly favored and Full Moon hit the line right on time and with good speed. At the Freeway buoy, Full Moon was up with the lead boats but ended up having to swing wide around a slower boat, losing a couple of places in the process.

The second upwind leg across Gasworks was fun as Full Moon battled with Cobalt from second start, somehow outpointing and then closing the door on the theoretically faster J24. There were still several third start boats ahead, though, and Full Moon’s hopes rested on the mighty Equalizer.

Unfortunately, some tangled lines delayed the hoist of the nylon giant. Once up, it was certainly helpful as Full Moon slowly got by a big Catalina 36 and then began to reel in the San Juan 28, Zephyr, but the gap to the lead was still a bit too much to overcome.

Rounding the AGC buoy, disaster struck as the Equalizer refused to come down! Several places were lost as the crew struggled upwind with the spinnaker trying to fill in the opposite direction. It finally came down, though, and Full Moon surged ahead, hoping to pick off a few boats before the finish. Sure enough, Full Moon outpointed and then tacked (cleanly) in front of the San Juan 24 Orca just before the finish to take a very respectable sixth place. Then it was time to break out the Margaritas, beer, and munchies as the sun dipped all too soon behind Queen Anne Hill.