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.