Best Start Ever!

The boys in black, looking very relaxed on the final leg.

Full Moon crew Randy "Wet Spot" Olsen, Michael "Little Sumpin" Medina, and skipper John "Sneaky, Sneaky" Mengedoht went for a port tack start at the pin for Goosebump race no. 4 and absolutely nailed it, crossing the line with full speed a mere second or two after the gun. Crossing in front of the entire fleet would have been icing on the cake but giant Jedi and speedy Tipsy Gypsy were coming on a bit too fast on starboard tack and Full Moon had to duck behind them. Still, that had to rank as Full Moon's best start ever.

The wind was light and shifty up the first leg. Full Moon held off The Black Knight for awhile but both TBK and Surt (C&C 41) got by before the AGC buoy. Heading to the Cove buoy, the Thunderbird Selchie was giving chase but had some issues hoisting their spinnaker while Full Moon had deferred hoisting until the next leg and sailed fairly fast with the jib on a nice beam reach. After rounding the Cove buoy, though, the wind  went very light and shifted from the SW to the SE, necessitating a scramble to switch the pole before hoisting the Equalizer. Naturally, once the spinnaker was up and flying, the wind shifted back, requiring a quick jibe!

Selchie had made up a little ground during the scramble and jibe but then Full Moon pulled a bit farther ahead as things settled down. Approaching the Freeway buoy, it appeared the big boats ahead were carrying their spinnakers onto the next leg and Full Moon did the same, though the wind angle was very tight, especially for a symmetrical spinnaker. Surt gave up and switched to their genoa and Full Moon gained on them for a little while. Meanwhile, Tipsy Gypsy and The Black Knight were locked in a close battle further ahead providing a great show until TBK prevailed rounding the Aurora buoy.

The Equalizer was a little harder than normal to bring down on such a tight reach (especially as we were short-handed) but everything was straightened away as Full Moon went around the Aurora buoy to head upwind to the finish. Selchie was 100 yards or so behind but still a threat given the wind's light and shifty nature. In the end, though, Selchie stayed comfortably behind as Full Moon finished an excellent fifth place, amazingly not all that far behind Surt. Jedi was first, followed by Tipsy Gypsy and TBK.