Drenched!

Fierce pirates John, Marcelle, and Randy at the dock.

Michael puts his one eye to work.

Cap'n John appears to have found the rum while Daniel stays warm and dry.

According to Derek Zoolander the merman, “Moisture is the essence of wetness and wetness is the essence of beauty.” Thus, Lake Union was full of very beautiful pirates this week as the rain dumped hard on the Duck Dodge fleet. Full Moon crew Randy “Sour Lime” Olsen, Michael “Floatus” Medina, Marcelle “Squishy” Lynde, Daniel “Soggy” Mengedoht, and skipper John “Main Rain” Mengedoht nailed the start, though with ample company on both sides. Speedy Selchie was behind at first but managed to get by before the AGC buoy.

Under spinnaker, Full Moon held her own toward the Freeway buoy while battling the Buchan 37 Distance. Then the wind shifted forward and died. Full Moon somehow harnessed tiny hints of breeze to pull well ahead of Distance, pass the J30 Slingshot, and gain substantially on Selchie as the wind began to fill back in. After a clean drop of the soaking wet spinnaker, Full Moon then maintained a tight angle to the Aurora buoy. Selchie and Slingshot needed two tacks to lay the mark and Full Moon rounded ahead of both boats, staying ahead to complete the first lap.

Randy embraces the wetness while John peers ahead through the rain.

The sun breaks out at last!

Unfortunately, Selchie again managed to get past before the AGC buoy, though Slingshot could not quite catch up. Under spinnaker, Slingshot slowly gained and rounded the Freeway buoy just behind Full Moon. On the line to the Aurora buoy, Slingshot was forced to sail in the disturbed wind behind Full Moon and still could not get past. As the wind got lighter near the Aurora buoy, Full Moon pulled ahead and then maintained the lead to the finish to take an outstanding seventh, not far behind Selchie.

A rainbow appears over Capitol Hill after the race.

Michael and Marcelle enjoy some post-race beverages.

Inconsistent Shift

Cap'n John catches flies while watching the Windex as Dave and Daniel hang on upwind.

Judy shows off the Big Hat for Wild West Night.

J-boats, dead ahead! (Slingshot in red)

The Hot Tub boat was out again enjoying the sun.

The Wild West Duck Dodge proved wild indeed with strong, gusty wind at the beginning and one very serious t-bone collision that nearly resulted in a sunken boat, though, thankfully, no injuries were reported. Full Moon crew Art “Water Boy” Teller, Dave “Trapped” Pulsifer, Judy “I’m Pulling!” Tiffany, Daniel “Beer Anyone?” Mengedoht and skipper John “Sneaky” Mengedoht were a bit early for the start and, even after a doughnut to kill time, ended up nearly at the pin before heading up to cross the line. The bad news is that this was the disadvantaged end of the line. The good news is that this was well away from the dense traffic at the other end!

The first leg to the Aurora buoy included one full round-up in a gust and a couple of painful extra tacks near the buoy but otherwise went well. The wind was strong enough that any plans to fly the Equalizer on the northbound leg were abandoned and the bulk of the trip to the Freeway buoy was spent swapping over to the standard pole and spinnaker while still making somewhat decent speed with just the jib and main.

The Aurora buoy was set very far north, somewhat close to a barge, and in the usual zone of light wind. Full Moon stayed above the direct line to the buoy and was able to nip right around, passing Runner (Ranger 26), Iolar (Olson 25), and several other boats in one easy move. Heading back south upwind, Full Moon held off any challengers from behind while gaining a bit on a J24. The wind, meanwhile, had gone a fair bit lighter, though with lots of random shifts and puffs to provide some frustrating driving conditions.

After rounding the AGC buoy, the shifty wind made unplanned jibes a constant threat until things settled down into a beam reach in the north half of the lake as the wind clocked into the NE. The Equalizer would have been helpful in the now-lighter breeze but the ancient orange chute still got the job done. Rounding the Freeway buoy and then heading west to the Aurora buoy, Full Moon was not far behind the J30 Slingshot and still well ahead of rivals such as Zephyr.

Heading for the finish line, a spinnaker would have been helpful at first, though the wind angle changed to a very tight reach as Full Moon headed south. Slingshot stayed ahead under spinnaker but barely cleared the end of the finish line. In the end, Full Moon was about 12^th with Runner and Iolar a few places back and Zephyr a full ten boats behind. The thundershowers that had been forecast never appeared and the sun remained out until well past the end of the race. Wind and sun two races in a row!

A fun time-lapse of the race from Gasworks Park can be seen at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=_nAc0X-2Gqs. 

Dodge, Duck, Dip, Dive and Dodge!

Don and John, heading out from the marina.

Tammy and Marcelle enjoy the sun. Is that a Thrift Shop coat? 

The sun starts heading down through the Aurora Bridge. 

Yep, he's a teen now, caught looking grumpy, though he wasn't!

The Thriftshop Night Duck Dodge defied the forecast with sunny skies and strong and gusty wind. Full Moon crew Michael “Twinkle Toes” Medina, Marcelle “Color Coat” Lynde, Tammy “Fast Tack” Cross, Don “Pinball” Caffrey, Daniel “Hoody” Mengedoht, and skipper John “Deck Wash” Mengedoht were about 30 seconds late for the start near the Committee Boat and then bashed upwind with a bit too much sail up, trying not to round up in the gusts.

Approaching the AGC buoy, Full Moon ended up just to windward of the J24 Fat Chance, which then appeared to have some kind of trouble tacking, overstanding the mark by a wide margin. Once around, Full Moon delayed hoisting the spinnaker as it was set up for what turned out to be the wrong side of the boat. Once launched, the oversized Equalizer quickly proved to be WAY too much to handle, sending Full Moon flying at around 8 knots prior to a fairly spectacular broach! The nylon beast was brought back under control just in time for a clean douse at the Freeway buoy, though the pole ended up fouled in the jib sheets.

Foredeck cleanup was more than a little perilous as Full Moon zipped along toward the Aurora buoy and, unfortunately, the vintage 1978 foreguy shackle chose this moment to expire, launching the pin and spring into the lake. With the wind continuing strong, it was decided to skip trying to re-rig for the smaller spinnaker and pole and take our chances with just the jib. With all that, Full Moon still rounded the Aurora buoy ahead of Fat Chance and with a solid lead on rival Zephyr!

Full Moon continued to hold off all comers upwind with the exception of relative giant Verity and another even bigger boat, Thundorca. Approaching the AGC buoy, though, a last-second tack went wrong and speedy Fat Chance got by. Sailing “wing and wing” downwind, Full Moon then maneuvered behind Fat Chance, “stole” her wind, and managed to get by before the Freeway buoy. With good tactical positioning, Full Moon stayed ahead to the Aurora buoy, rounded, and then tightened up on port tack before tacking for the beat to the finish.

Fat Chance (behind) and Verity (ahead) both tacked right at the buoy, which put them on a lower course. Full Moon then played the shifts for a straight shot to the line, beating both boats to take somewhere around 12^th place (it was very hard to keep track!). It was great fun trading places back and forth with Fat Chance and nice to have both wind and sun two weeks in a row! Meanwhile, the San Juan 24 Orca, which blew out her spinnaker in a big gust, has our sympathies. That could just as easily have been Full Moon if we’d flown the ancient standard spinnaker.

Olson Sandwich

Full Moon in the prestart.

A bigger than usual turnout.

The mighty Equalizer reaches down the lake.

Full Moon is near the left side of this shot.

Kate and Jeremy enjoy their first Duck Dodge on Full Moon.

Mata Hari experiments with spinnaker technology. 

The Hot Tub Boat was out with an all-female crew. Not sure why  there isn't a crowd of guys near by?

Duck Dodge No. 5 brought out more than the usual number of boats, enticed by the beautiful sunny skies and a nice northerly breeze. Full Moon crew Randy “Doubly Perfect” Olsen, Art “Rusty” Teller, Kate “Chaos” Austin, Jeremy “T-Bone” Jones, and skipper John “Contender” Mengedoht absolutely nailed the start near the pin end but unfortunately were helpless to prevent a few rockets (brand new J70) and bigger boats (Mata Hari) from working on by. Still, at the Aurora buoy Full Moon was hanging in there with three Olson 25s, Scat, and other fast boats while comfortably ahead of traditional rivals Ignitor and Zephyr.

After a brief hiccup, the mighty Equalizer was launched for the long reach to the AGC buoy. Full Moon actually passed Scat for a while (no pun intended) but then had difficulty with the wind shadow of boats to windward. At the buoy, a clean spinnaker drop and tight rounding kept Full Moon in the thick of things.

Heading upwind to the Freeway buoy and then across to the Aurora buoy saw Full Moon trading places back and forth with Iolar and another Olson 25 while also passing the Santa Cruz 27 Shazam and first-starter Penelope (C&C 99), which was pretty astounding. After rounding at Aurora, the Equalizer was hoisted again to good effect but, as before, it was challenging to pass anyone to leeward and Full Moon proceeded most of the way south with an Olson 25 on each side.

On the second trip northbound, Full Moon held off Iolar and picked off a J100 from first start as well. Rounding the Freeway buoy and then reaching south to the finish, Full Moon continued to hold off Iolar to take an excellent 11^th in a larger than normal fleet.