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.