Ignitor Returns!

Another balmy January day...             Michael Medina Photo

The black 30-footer looked very familiar and, sure enough, Full Moon’s old rival Ignitor appeared for the second Goosebump race, sporting new black topsides to replace the old red paint. Strong and gusty winds were threatening, favoring larger boats, so Full Moon would have to work hard to defeat Ignitor!

Crew Randy “To The Rescue” Olsen, Art “Mr. Kite” Teller, Michael “Kranken” Medina, Chuck “Black Butte” Weldy, and skipper John “Crazy Ivan” Mengedoht risked being overpowered with full sails for the start, planning to make changes on the fly if the wind continued to build. A delayed tack to avoid fouling Tenacious in the prestart maneuvers lead to a second-row start but tacking back to port to cross the line helped gain clear air. After clawing upwind to roll a struggling J24, Full Moon then made good speed to the AGC buoy.

Following a short reaching leg to the Cove buoy, it was time to launch the mighty Equalizer. All went well with the nylon monster until a gybe went awry and, during the effort to reattach the spinnaker pole, Full Moon briefly looked like a giant kite board with the Equalizer soaring skyward. Despite providing some entertainment for the rest of the fleet (especially the 505 dinghy Cinc-O-Sink surfing along nearby), the Equalizer helped Full Moon make some nice gains and Full Moon rounded the Freeway buoy in eighth.

The wind dropped quite a bit for the reach to the Aurora buoy and the final leg to the finish and, while Full Moon didn’t gain much on anybody, nobody could gain from behind, either, including (relative) giant Yankee III or the San Juan 28 Zephyr. In the end Full Moon retained eighth place with Ignitor a few hundred yards back in tenth. Good times in the cold and rain!