Stayin' Alive!

The final 2014 Goosebump Race featured very strong, gusty wind, and a mix of sunshine and rain. Full Moon crew Randy “Pot O’ Gold”Olsen, Michael “Low Rider” Medina, Marcelle “Woo-hoo!” Lynde, Daniel “Video” Mengedoht, and skipper John “Round Up” Mengedoht had a decent start with the big boats and settled into sixth place on the first leg.

Full Moon cruises by the Committee Boat, signaling "first start."

Rounding the AGC buoy, the mighty Equalizer was left in the bag as Full Moon proved plenty fast downwind with just main and jib and there was no reason to push things. The wind died down approaching the Freeway buoy but then filled in again as Full Moon rocketed across the north end of Lake Union with speeds popping up over 7 knots.


Yankee III gives an idea of the wind strength.

Returning upwind after rounding the Aurora buoy, the wind continued strong and big boats Yankee III and Stella Blue got past, along with a Hobie 21. Still, rivals Cinc-O-Sink and Poco Mas were either missing or well behind and, with Tipsy Gypsy also a no-show, it was looking good for a second place overall in the series!

Poco Mas also gets well heeled over.

On the second downwind run, the J30 Slingshot threatened from behind under spinnaker but could not get past Full Moon, again sailing under main and jib, until just after the Aurora buoy. Full Moon still made Slingshot work for it on the final leg but Slingshot prevailed to take ninth, with Full Moon tenth and Poco Mas a bit further back in eleventh.

Randy checks out the full arc rainbow.

As it turned out, Cinc-O-Sink came out but the wind was too much and they returned to the dock rather than risk capsizing (a very real possibility in a 505 dinghy!). Despite dropping one race, Cinc-O-Sink finished fifth overall in the series. Full Moon was, astoundingly, second in the series (it really pays to show up for every race!) with T-bird Poco Mas third just two points back. Many thanks to the Race Committee and to NW Riggers for putting on this winter series!

Collecting the series award for second place!