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| We got some catchin' up to do! |
The Cops and Robbers Duck Dodge featured sunny skies and
a nice breeze out of the SSW. Full Moon
crew Michael “PFD” Medina, Adam “IPA” Michalak, Jackie “Pilsner” Hensy, Steve “20
hours” Pfeiffer, Daniel “Cabin Man” Mengedoht, and skipper John “Comeback”
Mengedoht were a bit early to the starting line and ended up and ducking behind
a cluster slower traffic for a relatively poor start. Once in clear air,
however, Full Moon began pulling
ahead of nearby boats.
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| The Equalizer, old but powerful! |
A well timed tack brought Full Moon back across the lake without having to duck anyone. One
more tack was enough to lay the AGC buoy, having passed enough boats to move
into fifth place.
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| Michael waxes poetic from the lifeline while Daniel scopes the competition. |
The Equalizer was soon launched to good advantage, slowly
pulling Full Moon ahead of 40-foot Stella Blue (sailing without a
spinnaker) and within striking distance of the San Juan 24 Cake or Death and the Santana 20 Slippery When Wet. Bearing down a bit opened up enough gap to break
through the wind shadow of the other boats and Full Moon surged into second place to round the Freeway buoy. Slippery When Wet delayed dropping their
spinnaker to the last second, though, to bring them around right on Full Moon’s stern.
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| The Competition! |
Full Moon found
sufficient speed close reaching to the Aurora buoy to get past an Olson 30 (!)
and into the lead while pulling ahead of Slippery
When Wet. Unfortunately, Stella Blue
then came roaring up from behind. Stella
Blue was forced to take a very wide rounding outside of Full Moon but still had a lot of speed.
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| Michael grabs the duck for second place. |
On the final leg, Stella
Blue got past with ease to take the Gold Duck. Full Moon happily snagged the Silver with Slippery When Wet finishing a few minutes later for the Bronze.
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| Adam enjoys a post-race beverage. |
Coming by later, the skipper of Slippery When Wet expressed some displeasure at seeing Full Moon in third start. He didn’t seem
keen on listening to any response but my stance has not changed: Until such
time that the Race Committee takes steps to equalize the starts, pushing the
fastest second start boats into first start, Full Moon will likely stay in third start where we have some hope
of being competitive. For what it is worth, Full
Moon rates the same or slower than a number of boats in third start
including Blue Jeans (C&C 27), J22s
and Capri 25s. Thundorca (Tartan 41)
rates 117 and logically should be a first start boat but that’s old news. Stella Blue is also seriously fast, even
without a spinnaker.
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| A sunny evening with many more to come! |
Said it before, will say it again... I'd rather be beat by a well sailed Full Moon in 3rd start with some speed advantage than a Nordic 40 or Tartan 41 who sail like hot garbage while water-lining their way to the finish ahead of us. The courses the committee sets these days often favor the reach... The slipper skipper should focus his energy on shaming the egregiously disparate boats in 3rd start. Cake or Death takes no issue with the Tuna 525, even given you have a greater performance potential advantage to the SJ24.
ReplyDeleteCheers