Minimum Tacks

We should have gone in first start. Only two boats, Tipsy Gypsy and Distance, made that choice, leaving behind an unclaimed third place duck for the first Duck Dodge race of 2017. Instead, Full Moon crew Randy “It’s a Job” Olsen, Michael “Temporary Bachelor” Medina, Dave “Spacer” Pulsifer, Judy “Barefoot” Tiffany, Daniel “USC” Mengedoht, and skipper John “Buoy Hugger” Mengedoht requested third start, figuring we may as well join the trend of boats migrating to “slower” starts.

The buoy end of the starting line appeared favored, though it was placed very close to the east shore, and Full Moon opted to approach on starboard tack before tacking to cross the line. Unfortunately, we were a bit late to the line. Worse, we got rolled by a big Catalina 36 to windward and ended up just skirting the docks and houseboats in bad air before tacking for the Freeway buoy. Light air near the buoy then made for a closer rounding than desirable.

Full Moon zipping along under the Equalizer.

Heading west followed back a tack to the north and another to the west brought Full Moon right onto the rhumb line for the Aurora buoy and another close rounding in a bit of traffic. Once around, the mighty Equalizer was hoisted to good effect and Full Moon began reeling in some competitors, especially those who apparently forgot that the course did not include the AGC buoy! The drop went smoothly, followed quickly by a jibe around the Chandler’s Cove buoy.

Full Moon took a “clearing” tack to get to windward of a couple of boats and then another tack for a straight shot to the finish line. At that point, it was hard to tell if a top three finish was in the offing but it was not to be, the top three boats being Jinx, Offline, and Tailwind. Nevertheless, apart from the start, Full Moon sailed well and managed to pass a few boats from second start. More importantly, we all enjoyed a gorgeous early May evening on the lake.