Big Shrimp!

The Ducktoberfest Duck Dodge began with an October-gray sky and a decent, if very shifty, northerly breeze. Full Moon crew Randy “Keep Pulling” Olsen, Judy “Whoops” Tiffany, Dave “More?” Pulsifer, Daniel “Trapped” Mengedoht, and skipper John “Yes or No” Mengedoht enjoyed a good start, right behind the Ranger 26 Runner. Approaching the Freeway buoy, Full Moon was still close to Runner and just ahead of speedy Scat. Unfortunately, new-rival Zephyr took advantage of a wind shift to pull ahead at the buoy.

Full Moon took a slightly higher line on the close reach to the Aurora buoy and pulled steadily ahead of Zephyr, leaving her behind for good and also getting ahead of Runner. The wind faded and shifted a bit near the buoy, causing Full Moon and several other boats to put in a couple of late tacks. Once around, the mighty Equalizer was quickly hoisted and Full Moon began to pull ahead of other boats. The course became nearly dead downwind and savvy Runner began a series of jibes, sailing more distance but at a faster pace. This allowed them to catch up right at the AGC buoy. However, they had troubles rounding and Full Moon popped right back ahead!

Unfortunately, Full Moon then had her own troubles with a couple of tacks and Runner regained the lead once more. Positions held steady for much of the second lap until disaster struck with the takedown of the giant Equalizer, which ended up mostly in the water. The retrieval process and cleanup after rounding the final buoy allowed the Buchan 37 Distance to get by, though with the increasing wind favoring the bigger boat, Distance would likely have gotten by anyway. In the end, Full Moon was once again tenth, proving we are, if nothing else, fairly consistent. Still, all of the Thunderbirds and J22s were behind and all the boats ahead except Runner rated faster, so Full Moon actually did quite well. Meanwhile, the German beers were ice cold and delicious!