Tropic Blunder

Allison trims the sheet.

The starting buoy for the Tropical Night Duck Dodge was a long way south of the Committee Boat, apparently due to an overly short anchor line or some such issue which allowed it to drift. Full Moon crew Michael “Small Boat” Medina, Christian “Coconut Bra” Grange, Allison “Tropical Color” Bahe, Troy “Too Tall” Charlesworth, Daniel “Movie Magic” Mengedoht, and skipper John “Evasive Maneuvers” Mengedoht did their best to stay behind the line while avoiding other boats doing the same. Meanwhile, a fairly large group of boats appeared to over early, perhaps thinking the buoy was closer to its “normal” location. Needless to say, the start was a bit of a mess and Full Moon labored in the disturbed air from the early boats.

Michael enjoys the sun at the bow.

The wind, which had been promisingly strong prior to the start, faded and shifted approaching the Freeway buoy, causing a couple of extra tacks to make it around. Thankfully, the line to the Aurora buoy was a clean tight reach and, after a smooth launch of the Equalizer, Full Moon took off on the run-becoming-a-reach to the AGC buoy.

Christian holds the boom out downwind in light air.

Unfortunately, the floating “island” dispensing free beer for Tropical Night was located upwind of the AGC buoy (historically, it has been a reaching leg) and boats hoping to snag a cup or two had to luff up or hope for a handoff at the very corner of the raft. Full Moon gave up on the beer in favor of maintaining upwind speed, no doubt surprising a few boats maneuvering for the suds.

Troy enjoys a little speed under spinnaker.

The approach to the Freeway buoy was much improved with less traffic and Full Moon nearly caught up to old rival Zephyr, which had enjoyed a much better start (if maybe over early?). On the leg to the Aurora buoy, Full Moon found a bit more speed and took a higher line to pass Zephyr to windward.

Cap'n John and his friend, the tiller.

Unfortunately, the spinnaker hoist went badly awry with a rotated pole. This allowed Zephyr to get by and for Necessary Evil (Catalina 30) to squeeze through to windward between Full Moon and another boat. Once the spinnaker was up, the wind had died down significantly around Full Moon while it filled in nicely in a narrow band right around Zephyr. Game over! In the end, with fading light and fading wind, Full Moon elected to drop the spinnaker and switch to cruising mode rather than continue racing. Still, it was yet another beautiful evening on the water and fun to be out there, crazy start and all.

The sun sets a little too early...