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....