Back to the Future

Last year, Full Moon switched from second start to third start in hopes of racing against boats that are more comparable in performance instead of against the many boats in second start that arguably should be in the first start. (My opinion but one that is widely shared!) This was a reasonable choice given there were quite a few other third start boats such as J22s, Thunderbirds, Capri 25s, etc., not to mention 40 footers such as Stella Blue (Nordic 40) and Thundorca (Tartan 41) that rate the same or much faster than Full Moon.

However, for whatever reason, apart from one T-bird and the 40-footers, Full Moon has not had the same level of competition in third start this year. The ducks are on the mast and not coming off but I don’t want to create the same problem for third start that others are creating in second start – so Full Moon will return to second start.

We’re back to the old status quo – a lightly populated first start and a huge second start fleet. The Race Committee could fix this, of course, either by knowledgeably directing boats to the various starts as in days of old or by suggesting some parameters such as PHRF-NW break points. The Committee does not appear concerned about this issue, though, so I'm not holding my breath. We race for the fun of it, not the ducks, but it would nice not to face off against boats that rate more than 100 seconds per mile faster!