The Lost Buoy

Katie, John, and Randy enjoy some good breeze on the first leg.

Full Moon crew Randy “Variety Pack” Olsen, Art “Water Boy” Teller, Chuck “Boom Boom” Weldy, Katie “Detroit Brownies” Freels, Daniel “Head Banger” Mengedoht, and skipper John “Skippy” Mengedoht had an excellent front row start for the Duck Dodge this week, tacking to port at the horn with a clear lane toward Gasworks. Unfortunately, the boat then felt a bit sluggish with a J24 and rival Zephyr (San Juan 28) rolling by to windward. A strategic series of tacks toward the Aurora buoy paid off to put Full Moon back in front of those two. Then it became apparent that the buoy was missing!

Chuck and Daniel like where we are. That is Selchie to the far left.

Since this has never happened before (not!), most boats, including Full Moon, simply picked a spot roughly where the buoy is normally to be found and made their turn. Once around the invisible buoy, the mighty Equalizer was quickly launched to good effect and Full Moon headed south toward the AGC buoy in seventh place only about 200 yards behind the lead boats.

Cap'n John catches flies while Daniel keeps the jib nicely trimmed.

Approaching the AGC buoy, which was actually there, the wind died down substantially and Full Moon coasted around the buoy to close within only 50 yards of always-speedy Scat. Then the wind began to fill back in from the north and the front-runners pulled back ahead to a more substantial lead, though Full Moon also put some distance on the boats behind.

The wind goes light near the AGC buoy. There are a LOT of boats behind us!

Full Moon again felt a bit slow upwind on port tack (time to check the bottom for slime?), allowing Selchie and a speedy trimaran to get by before rounding the Freeway buoy. However, as with the first leg, Full Moon improved on the leg to the Aurora buoy location and passed both boats before blasting off again with the Equalizer.

Rounding the AGC buoy, Full Moon was just ahead of the J27 Summer Babe. The J-boat had to work for it but got by just at the Freeway buoy before making the U-turn toward the finish line. In the end, Full Moon was an excellent eighth place, ahead of Selchie and all the normal rivals save Runner, which had a great start and a terrific race. Next up: Prom Night!