Superbowl Driftathon

Rocketing across the start line...

That duck is definitely gaining on The Black Knight.

Michael and Marcelle battle the freezing temperatures.

Marcelle, Sara, and John in dramatic sailing action.

"Low Rider" captures "Cozy" Daniel with the shoe's eye view.

Goosebump Race No. 3 on Superbowl Sunday finally offered up some glorious sunshine but, by the 1:00 start time, the lake was glassy smooth with no tangible signs of wind. Full Moon crew Michael “Low Rider” Medina, Marcelle “Nose Dive” Lynde, Sara “Anchor Aweigh” Skinner, Chuck “Prepared” Weldy, Daniel “Cozy” Mengedoht, and skipper John “Full Batten” Mengedoht positioned the boat pointing more or less toward the AGC buoy and slowly drifted across the start line in company with the entire fleet. In a feat not likely to be repeated any time soon, Full Moon somehow managed to float past The Black Knight for a little while until TBK’s taller mast and sails grabbed a little more “breeze” to pull back ahead.

After nearly 20 minutes, boats closest to the Westlake shore started to move, including a blue T-bird, Dash 34, and a couple of J24s, though there still was no evidence of wind to be seen on the water. With Full Moon too far from the mysterious Westlake breeze, we had to settle for oozing past the boom-box-blasting, techno-beat-loving T-bird Poco Mas and very slowly following The Black Knight to the first buoy.

Staying to the right after rounding to avoid the oncoming traffic allowed room for Poco Mas to sneak inside so Full Moon had to ooze past the white T-bird for a second time. Then, as traffic got a bit thicker, it was necessary to squeeze between the oncoming boats, right of way being tough to apply when boats are barely moving.

After just clearing Distance’s anchor (thanks, Sara!), Full Moon “tacked” toward some breeze slowly filling in from the north. The boats which had received the Westlake boost were, by this time, already in the stronger wind and long gone but Full Moon persevered to hold off one San Juan 24 and to try and pass Orca, which was dead ahead.

Orca swung a little wide around the Freeway buoy and Full Moon soon was in striking distance. The close reach to the finish was exhilarating after all the painful drifting and Full Moon slowly pulled above and past Orca to score what appeared to be a “lucky thirteenth” out of some thirty boats. As it turns out, though, three boats in the Westlake group were over the starting line early – so upgrade that to “terrific tenth!”