Golden Glow

Daniel, Marcelle, Michael, and John zipping along upwind to the Freeway buoy.

"Loose Ends" gives Dad a big hug while holding the coveted Gold Duck!

Last June, the Duck Dodge Race Committee invited Full Moon to switch from second start (“half-fast boats”), where she had raced for many years, to third start (“cruising and slower boats”). This was a tough choice on many fronts, including no longer competing with old rivals, worrying about having an unfair advantage over some truly “slower boats,” and suffering from the image challenge of being classed as a slower boat. Ouch! However, the Committee has been allowing more and more really fast boats into second start, rendering Full Moon essentially uncompetitive. Third start was chosen and Full Moon managed to collect two third-place finishes over the summer and a first in the Rum Run.

And so it was, on yet another gorgeous May evening, that Full Moon crew Randy “Grad Dad” Olsen, Michael “Zeta-Jones” Medina, Marcelle “Overboard” Lynde, Chuck “Zip-Grip” Weldy, Daniel “Loose Ends” Mengedoht, and skipper John “High Gloss” Mengedoht lined up for third start for the first Duck Dodge of 2012. Starting on port tack, Full Moon had to dodge the Merit 25 Incognito coming across on starboard but still managed to be the third boat across the line for an unusually good start (for us). With a good lane and clear air, Full Moon pulled ahead of Incognito to take over first place half way to the Freeway buoy, also overtaking Fortis from second start in the process.

Rounding the Freeway buoy and heading past Gasworks to the Aurora buoy, Full Moon passed still more second starters, including Shogun, Distance and, amazingly, Runner! Heading back south on the long run under spinnaker featured some big wind shifts, necessitating some quick (and somewhat messy) jibes for the mighty Equalizer. Distance caught back up (it is, after all, a 37-footer!) but had issues with their take-down and Full Moon zipped by again just after rounding the AGC buoy.

The final upwind leg to the finish saw no boats threatening from behind and Full Moon cruised on to easily score the coveted gold duck! Was it the fresh bottom paint? Was it the shiny new graphics on the freshly polished topsides? More likely, it was a good start, followed by solid sailing from a veteran, if slightly rusty crew! Regardless, it was great fun and wonderful to be back racing again.