Spinnaker Surprise

Prestart maneuvers. That is Full Moon in the middle, sailing directly away from the camera.

The wind was very light and out of the SW for the Prom Night start and Full Moon crew Michael “No Sheet” Medina, Dave “No Tail” Pulsifer, Judy “No Smile” Tiffany, Daniel “No Tunes” Mengedoht, and skipper John “No Wind” Mengedoht ended up crossing the starting line a few minutes late. A tack toward the Westlake shore paid off well for a while until the wind filled in a bit in the middle, allowing the Capri 25 Triple Time and rival Zephyr to pass by. Approaching the AGC buoy, traffic had stacked up and Full Moon rounded in a tight sandwich between Salsa (J29) and Penelope (C&C 99) from the first start.

Daniel likes his post by the mast upwind.

Full Moon delayed hoisting the spinnaker briefly to allow a bit more space between boats but then the giant Equalizer was put to use and Full Moon began to gain on the fleet ahead. Creeping up on Zephyr, Full Moon took a jog to windward, somehow maintained momentum in what looking like no wind at all, and approached the Freeway buoy having passed a number of boats. The big Buchan 37 Distance, however, was closing on the buoy on starboard with right of way so Full Moon swung wide. Distance lost a bunch of speed in their turn and gybe, though, and Full Moon nosed out ahead.

Full Moon is the second spinnaker from the right not long before passing Zephyr.

Unfortunately, while the spinnaker came down cleanly, the jib sheets were thoroughly tangled and, without power from the jib, Selchie, Triple Time, and Distance were able to get by from behind. Finding good wind close to Gasworks, Full Moon made up some of the losses, made a good tack to lay the Aurora buoy, and once again launched the Equalizer in a light NW breeze.

Heading for what turned out to be the finish, Full Moon was able to steal Triple Time’s wind and then roll to leeward to just barely eke out sixth place, an awesome finish given the poor start. Meanwhile, it was time to break out the Prom Night treats including a well-iced bottle of pink champagne! (Thanks, Dave!).