Flash Dance

The wind got very light toward the end, many boats appearing to be sailing in random directions.

Full Moon crew Randy “Old-Timer” Olsen, Kelly “Quick Study” Laleman, Troy “Sore Muscles” Charlesworth, and skipper John “Flash Dance” Mengedoht achieved another decent start for the Star Wars Duck Dodge, staying clear of some kind of fracas near the Committee Boat involving a white Moore 24. The first leg to the Freeway buoy was a tight reach followed by a tighter line toward Gasworks and a couple of tacks in decent breeze to round the Aurora buoy.

The mighty Equalizer was soon launched to good effect, helping to hold off the Catalina 30 Necessary Evil and allowing Full Moon to gain nicely on the speedy Hot Foot 27 Flash Point. Approaching the Chandler’s Cove buoy, Full Moon was able to slip to leeward of Flash Point and round on the inside. The spinnaker pole trapped the jib sheets during the take-down, somewhat negating the nice move at the buoy, but Flash Point must have had difficulties of their own as Full Moon retained a lead nearly all the way to the Freeway buoy.

By this time, the wind had faded a bit, though Full Moon still had good speed following Flash Point to the Aurora buoy. Looking down the lake, there were a LOT of boats stacked up near the Chandler’s Cove buoy so it was time to get the very best out of the Equalizer. Dropping the nylon monster a bit early as the wind faded to nearly zero, Full Moon still managed yet again to round inside Flash Point, both boats barely moving and in a lot of traffic. The final leg was a search for wind, Full Moon finishing about tenth, not far behind Flash Point.