Tropic Thunder

Very light air at the start.

The threatened thunderstorms never appeared for the Tropical Night Duck Dodge, and the rain (mostly) held off until after the race, which ran into the dark in predominantly light winds. Full Moon crew Art “Coy” Teller, Randy “Emma Stone” Olsen, Kelly “Malibu” Laleman, Erin “Dos Equis” Osberg, Daniel “Boombox” Mengedoht, and skipper John “Turn It Down!” Mengedoht had a decent start near the middle of the very long starting line, though behind arch-rival Zephyr (San Juan 28). The wind filled in a bit heading toward the AGC buoy, allowing Full Moon to pick off a yellow Thunderbird and gain a little on Zephyr. From the AGC, it was a short leg to the floating “island” sponsored by 48 Degrees North, Marine Servicenter, and Fremont Brewing to grab some free beer (which was quite good) and an even shorter leg to the Chandler’s Cove buoy, which Full Moon nearly missed (and a few other boats did miss…).

The "island" is ready to dispense beer.

Runaway on the first spinnaker leg.

The “Mighty Isis” spinnaker was then launched and Full Moon took a fairly direct course northward while Zephyr and the Norlin 34 Runaway trended a bit to the west. Full Moon’s course and/or ability to keep moving in the light air paid off as Full Moon got past Zephyr and Runaway as well as the T-bird Zoe before rounding the Freeway buoy. Zoe got back ahead briefly to leeward on the long trip back south until Full Moon found a bit more breeze and pulled ahead for good.

Full Moon pulls ahead of Runaway and Zephyr.

After rounding the AGC buoy and swinging by the “island” again (which was, unfortunately, out of beer), Full Moon was overtaken by Runaway, which had skipped the island. (The island was part of the course…) After rounding the Cove buoy, the spinnaker was launched for a very light air run with Full Moon again favoring a fairly direct course to the Freeway buoy and Runaway choosing to jibe a few times at a “hotter” wind angle. Full Moon still managed to pass Runaway before rounding the Freeway buoy and then stayed in front in the dying breeze and dying light to the finish line to place what we believe was fifth.