Bronze Holiday

Full Moon crew Michael “Too Short” Medina, Marcelle “That’s Okay” Van Houten, Adam “Skinny Santa” Michalak, Jackie “Texas” Hensy, Daniel “Tunes” Mengedoht, and skipper John “Sorry, Marcelle” Mengedoht hit the start line right on time for the Christmas in July Duck Dodge. A few other boats were either over early or very late for second start… Regardless, Full Moon did well on the first leg until reaching the disturbed air off a much larger boat in front. This allowed a few boats, including the always well-sailed Tuesday, to get or remain ahead at the Freeway buoy.

Tuesday is always fast, despite those patches!

On the second leg, Full Moon struggled a bit to find clear air, though that didn’t prevent the passing of a few stragglers from second start! The Equalizer was launched immediately after rounding the Aurora buoy. A jibe toward the middle of the lake might have been advisable but other traffic made that a difficult option so Full Moon stuck with sailing a deep angle. The wind then varied back and forth between nearly dead downwind and a beam reach on the long leg south. Small gains were made on Tuesday but a cluster of slower boats in the way on approach to the AGC buoy made any hope of a pass impossible.

Cruising past the Committee Boat to collect another duck.

Jibing at the buoy brought another tangle of the pole and the jib sheets, the culprit apparently being a topping lift issue. The good news is that this didn’t cost any positions, the bad news was that Tuesday pulled farther ahead. After two tacks, Full Moon received the horn for third place, Tuesday scoring second and a boat called Baby Girl taking the gold. Meanwhile, it was yet another glorious sunny evening on the lake. This has been a great summer and we still have six more races to enjoy!

Is there room on the mast? The boom is full...

Piece of Eight

Kim and Randy take a selfie.

Full Moon crew Randy “Rerouting” Olsen, Kim “Traffic” Franz, Dave “Costco” Pulsifer, Judy “Vaporizer” Tiffany, Daniel “Hot Rod” Mengedoht, and skipper John “IPA” Mengedoht enjoyed a decent start for the Pirate Night Duck Dodge near the “pin” end of the line. Boats closer to the middle of the line had a slight advantage but Full Moon had fun dicing with some SYC J22s while pulling ahead of a few other boats. Apart from giant (40’!) Stella Blue, Full Moon was near the front of the third start fleet as the boats converged at the Freeway buoy.

Drifting power boats always add to the challenge of Duck Dodge racing.

After rounding, Full Moon headed for Gasworks Park, waiting for a clear lane to develop before tacking. This paid off well, allowing Full Moon to put the J22s and often-speedy Tuesday behind before rounding the Aurora buoy.

It appeared to be an epic post-race raft-up, not to mention another awesome sunset!

After a slight delay, the mighty Equalizer was launched to good advantage on the long reach/run to the AGC buoy. A clean drop was achieved a shade early followed by a tight rounding and then a straight shot upwind to the finish line to take second place and the Silver Duck! Stella Blue took the gold by a substantial margin, not surprisingly, given her size. A few minutes later, Mustache Ride (Choate 22) crossed for the Bronze.

Solid Gold!

Panorama of the crew, featuring Chuck in the middle with special Mardi Gras adornment.

Full Moon absolutely nailed the start for the Mardi Gras Duck Dodge, rolling into a nice lee bow position on Slingshot (J30) at the pin end and clearing all boats on starboard tack to take the lead. After dodging a few drifting power boats, crew Randy “Traffic” Olsen, Michael “New Wheels” Medina, Chuck “Busty” Weldy, Troy “Data Miner” Charlesworth, Daniel “Baby Driver” Mengedoht, and skipper John “Ratchet Block” Mengedoht caught the back of the second start fleet and rounded the Freeway buoy with nary a tack.

It was a gorgeous evening with lots of boats.

Rounding wide to keep clear of traffic paid off with clear air, Full Moon rolling past several more second start boats on a tight reach to the Aurora buoy. With the apparent wind clocking through 90 degree shifts, the long reach/run to the Chander’s Cove buoy involved a lot of trimming but the Equalizer spinnaker kept Full Moon moving well.

Nice sunset, captured by Michelle Mathison from her Facebook post.

The spinnaker pole trapped the jib sheets when it came down, taking a while to sort, but Full Moon didn’t lose too much speed heading back north. Two tacks later, Full Moon crossed the line to take first place! Summer Sled (Harbor 20) was second, about a minute back, followed by Blue Jeans (C&C 27).