Too Hot For Togas

Full Moon flying the Mighty Isis (blue, black, and white).

There was no Duck Dodge on July 21 due to Whidbey Island Race Week. On the 28^th, Full Moon crew Randy “Blu-ray” Olsen, Art “Pole Control” Teller, Doug “In and Out” Schoemaker, Chuck “Modular” Weldy, Daniel “Dy-no-mite” Mengedoht, and skipper John “What Next” Mengedoht managed a good start for the Toga Night Duck Dodge but then encountered La Gitana (late for third start?) slowly reaching along in the path of the second start fleet. This caused Full Moon to fall off significantly to leeward, giving up what looked like a decent course to the Freeway buoy. Making matters worse, the wind got light and shifty approaching the buoy and a small cluster of paddle-boarders were right in Full Moon’s path. (Nothing against the paddle-boarders – it is their lake, too!) Several slow tacks later, Full Moon had dropped to mid-fleet, a classic case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time – twice!

Rounding the Aurora buoy just ahead of Flash Point.

The wind angle required a couple of tacks to make the Aurora buoy and then it was time to quickly launch the Equalizer (aka the Mighty Isis), which proved its worth, allowing Full Moon to pass several boats and gain substantially on several more. Full Moon rounded the Aurora buoy on Zephyr’s transom and then was able to poke inside to windward for the long upwind leg. Zephyr hung in there two thirds of the way up the lake and then tacked behind. The wind looked pretty consistent so Full Moon continued on until tacking near the Eastlake shore, which then led to an encounter with the private ferry/party boat Trek, requiring more tacks.  Meanwhile, Zephyr had found better wind and pulled back in front by a good margin. Foiled again!

The usual post-race raft up in fading light.

The second lap was similar to the first but the Equalizer couldn’t provide enough boost to catch Zephyr, which also managed to pass the J30 Slingshot. (Way to go, Gary! All those girls are making you fast!) In the end, Full Moon finished somewhere mid-fleet, the good news being that at least one T-bird, speedy Flash Point (Hotfoot 27), and one or two J-boats were well behind. The other good news, of course, was yet another spectacular sunny evening with decent breeze and wonderful comradery. Good times!

Some togas look better than others....

A (Less Than) One Hour Tour

Full Moon is in the foreground not long after the start with Runaway ahead and a J-24 to windward.

The Gilligan’s Island Duck Dodge once again offered sunny skies and decent, if puffy, wind. Full Moon crew Art “Pull!” Teller, Kelly “Beer Now” Laleman, Kate “Big Data” Davis, Adam “Moose Drool” Michalak, Daniel “Leverage” Mengedoht, and skipper John “Overloaded” Mengedoht headed on starboard tack for a pin end start, which worked pretty well until boats tried crossing in front on port tack while boats behind remained on starboard. There were some tense moments as a result but Full Moon emerged unscathed, if surrounded by boats creating big wind shadows.

Full Moon is second from the left, heading for the Aurora buoy.

It was a straight shot to the Freeway buoy with an immediate tack to clear dense traffic. The wind then behaved just enough to allow Full Moon to reach the Aurora buoy without tacking, followed by a quick launch of the nylon monster and a speedy trip south. Full Moon put a little distance on Zephyr on this leg while catching up to old rival Ignitor, which had enjoyed a better start, Full Moon rounding the AGC buoy right on Ignitor’s stern in somewhat tight quarters.

Full Moon rounding the Aurora buoy, just before raising the pole and launching the Equalizer.

Traffic cleared out a bit for the long upwind leg north but the gusty wind favored larger boats and Ignitor slowly pulled back out to decent lead. With the Committee Boat directly in Full Moon’s path, a short jog to leeward was required, which then resulted in the need to tack twice for the Freeway buoy, though many other boats had the same issue.

Full Moon romping along upwind to complete the first lap.

Full Moon sailed a bit past the Freeway buoy in order to try and eliminate the need to tack before the Aurora buoy and this worked as planned. The Equalizer was launched somewhat smoothly for another nice romp southward, Full Moon gaining on Ignitor but not quite enough. Full Moon gained a bit more on the final leg, finishing just behind Ignitor but still well in front of Zephyr.

Kelly enjoys her post-race cold one.

Late Santa

Smoke from wildfires provided a hazy sky.

The Committee Boat apparently had difficulty getting through the locks and the Ballard Bridge for the Christmas in July Duck Dodge, zooming into the lake at the last minute and blowing the first warning before even getting an anchor down. With a little confusion over the horn signals, Full Moon crew Art “Wet Spot” Teller, Marcelle “Waldo Socks” Van Houten, Judy “6.48” Tiffany, Dave “Low Rider” Pulsifer, and skipper John “Surfin’ Safari” Mengedoht was a little late getting the jib up but still managed a decent start on port tack. Slingshot (J30) cast a large wind shadow to slow things down for a while but Full Moon managed a straight line to the green Gasworks buoy which substituted for the missing Freeway buoy.

Judy, Daniel, Marcelle, and Dave enjoy some post-race beverages.

With a bit more westerly wind angle than usual, a couple of tacks were needed to round the Aurora buoy before launching the Equalizer in a nice breeze. Full Moon surged up over six knots in the puffs to pass a few boats and put some distance on old rivals Zephyr and Ignitor before rounding the AGC buoy inside Slingshot, which had taken a wide turn. The wind had gone light around the buoy, though, and it took a while to get moving back northward.

John and Art in the background also enjoying post-race beverages.

Playing the shifts paid off as Full Moon squeezed past the Committee Boat’s anchor rode and arrived at the Gasworks buoy again without tacking. By sailing nearly to the shore, Full Moon tacked on the layline to the Aurora buoy, rounded, and then launched the Equalizer (aka Mighty Isis) for another fast run/reach southward. This time the knotmeter nearly touched 6.5 a couple of times before the wind went light again approaching the AGC buoy.

Deception once again goes all-out on decorations.

After a fairly clean drop and some anxious moments trying to get going upwind in the light air, the wind began to fill and Full Moon headed for the finish line, chasing Slingshot not far ahead. A sleek 6 meter threatened a little but Full Moon stayed ahead to finish somewhere in the top third of the fleet, sailing two full laps in well under an hour.

Red, White and Beer

Full Moon crew Art “Teacher” Teller, Katie “Cookies” Freels, Neil “Work Talk” Piispanen, Troy “Laptop” Charlesworth, Daniel “Big Pull” Mengedoht, and skipper John “Flags” Mengedoht set up nicely for a starboard tack start for the Red, White, and Blue Duck Dodge but then kindly allowed Zephyr to “barge” in to windward rather than force them to tack away from the Committee Boat or risk a collision. As a result, Full Moon was not positioned as well as planned but was at least able to tack just after the starting horn. Unfortunately, this also meant sailing in more disturbed wind for much of the first leg and watching the boats that started farther toward the pin doing much better.

Full Moon is at the far left, not long after the start.

Once around the Freeway buoy, things opened up a bit and Full Moon did a little better. Approaching the Aurora buoy, the wind went a bit light and shifty, requiring a double tack. Zephyr attempted to make it without tacking and ended up running over the buoy. Oops!

Full Moon is in the middle of this group on the second leg of the race.

The Equalizer went up smoothly for the long run south and some good wind pressure made sure it could work its magic, Full Moon passing quite a few boats before a clean drop and rounding of the AGC buoy. The long upwind leg was also fruitful as Full Moon seemed able to point higher than some of the competition. After rounding the Freeway buoy, Full Moon made sure to sail high to avoid needing additional tacks to round the Aurora buoy.

Lookin' good with the Equalizer on the third leg, about to pass Zephyr.

The Equalizer popped up quickly again for the spinnaker run but the wind was much lighter, even more so approaching the AGC buoy. The spinnaker stayed full, though, and came down fairly smoothly before rounding the buoy. On the final leg, Full Moon split from several boats heading east in hopes of making another pass or two but this had the opposite result. Still Full Moon finished ahead of the T-bird Selchie (a rare event!), well ahead of rival Zephyr, and not far behind usually speedy Tenacious. In any case, it was another outstanding sunny and fun evening on the lake.