Duckless in Seattle

Doug captures the racing action from his usual perch.

Hot Tub Boats. What else do I need to say?

New instrument provides accurate depth, speed, and even water temperature!

Full Moon crew Randy “Conspiracy Theory” Olsen, Michael “Hot Tub Envy” Medina, Doug “Slippery Step” Schoemaker, Martha “Real Cheese” Schoemaker, Daniel “Righty Tighty” Mengedoht, and skipper John “Unaccountably Slow” Mengedoht hit the start right at the gun for the Coast Guard Night Duck Dodge, another excellent start. Heading upwind to the Freeway buoy, Full Moon felt a little slow in the light and shifty breeze and, sure enough, speedy Sushi (Santana 20) and very competitive Deception (Catalina 27) managed to get by.

Heading for the Aurora buoy, Full Moon seemed more her normal self and passed a number of second start boats while easily holding off the Ranger 22s Anakena and True Blue. Trouble with a twisted pole delayed the launch of the mighty Equalizer on the downwind run but, once it was up, Full Moon began reeling in Deception. Unfortunately, Full Moon was squeezed between a large second start boat to leeward and Deception to windward and was unable to make the pass, though it was fun to pass the big Buchan 37 Dreamscape (from second start) just before rounding the AGC buoy.

On the final upwind leg, Deception was uncatchable. Sushi was, we believe, first, a big blue boat (looked to be a 35’ racer/cruiser) may have been second, Deception third, and Full Moon fourth, the first race this year without a prized vinyl duck sticker! There was no crying in our cold beer, though – it was a great sunny evening on the water, the new instruments worked beautifully, and we were definitely competitive with our fellow third start boats, not to mention passing the back third of the second start fleet.