Popsicle Toes

Full Moon crew Daniel “Frosty” Mengedoht and skipper John “Slushy” Mengedoht had to spend a little time brushing an inch of snow off the boat to get ready for Goosebump Race No. 5. Despite being short-handed, Full Moon got a great start, third across the line behind giant Nimble and the two-man dinghy Bete Noire in very light wind.

On the close reach southeast to the Cove buoy, the 40 foot Yankee III threatened from behind but Full Moon proved hard to pass and held position to round the buoy. Heading back north and upwind, Full Moon tacked to escape the wind shadow of Nimble and stayed toward the east side of the lake, splitting from most of the fleet. At first, this appeared a bad move as Yankee III and T-bird Poco Mas pulled ahead toward the west. Then the wind filled in a little bit on the east side and the more direct course to the Freeway buoy paid off. Full Moon again rounded in third behind Bete Noire, though Yankee III and Poco Mas were not far behind.

Reaching and running across past Gasworks, Yankee III began to catch up again but still could not get by once Full Moon jibed for the final approach to the Aurora buoy. Poco Mas threatened as well, but there wasn’t enough wind to keep their spinnaker full, negating any advantage it might have provided.

Once around the Aurora buoy, Poco Mas lost some ground switching from spinnaker to jib as Full Moon soldiered slowly on toward the finish line. Full Moon gained on Bete Noire but could not quite catch up and crossed the line in third place. Poco Mas was fourth, Yankee III fifth, with Cinc-O-Sink seventh. With Tipsy Gypsy and Surt failing to show, this places Full Moon and Cinc-O-Sink in a tie for second place with Poco Mas just one point back. Smaller boats rule!

"Slushy" adding to the collection of vinyl stickers.