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.