Bronze Me!

Full Moon handing off the traditional gift to the Race Committee before the start.

Our friends on Cinc-O-Sink getting in the Duck Dodge spirit.

Full Moon returned to racing this week with the first Duck Dodge of the 40^th Anniversary season. Crew Michael “I Love You” Medina, Dave “Metropolitan” Pulsifer, Judy “Boom!” Tiffany, Grace “Good Luck” Eun, Daniel “Pop!” Mengedoht, and skipper John “Best On The Lake” Mengedoht were running a bit heavy with two very full coolers and lots of food on a light breeze night but managed a great start, second across the line after a dark blue J24.

Heading upwind on the first leg in second place!

Full Moon held position to the Freeway buoy then played the wind shifts across the north end of Lake Union to sneak past the J24 while also holding off the T-bird Valkyrie. With a quick launch of the mighty Equalizer spinnaker at the Aurora buoy, Full Moon established a solid lead. Reaching down the lake, Full Moon also caught up and passed the C&C 99 Crush from the first start before a clean spinnaker drop at the AGC buoy.

Heading back north to complete the first lap, Full Moon retained first place but Valkyrie was clearly gaining. Approaching the Freeway buoy, the wind went very light and Valkyrie had some good momentum to cruise on past, dropping Full Moon to second, just as Full Moon passed Penelope, another C&C 99 from first start.

After rounding the buoy, all the boats struggled in extremely light wind. Full Moon took a more southerly route, which paid off to close the gap with Valkyrie before rounding the Aurora buoy. The space between boats waxed and waned under spinnaker but Valkyrie proved tough to pass and held her lead to the AGC buoy. Meanwhile, always-speedy 25-foot Scat had been slowly gaining ground.

After another relatively clean spinnaker drop, Full Moon rounded the AGC buoy for the final leg. Valkyrie was uncatchable and, unfortunately, Scat is also very fast upwind, managing to slide past to windward about half way to the finish line. Full Moon easily retained third place, though, to score the coveted Bronze Duck, an excellent result for the first race!

Daniel secures the Bronze Duck!

It was a gorgeous evening!

Adding the spiffy 40th Anniversary Bronze Duck sticker to one of the last places left on the boom...