Hot Jammies

The Pajama Night Duck Dodge was once again very warm with clear blue skies AND wind! Full Moon crew Michael “No Overlap” Medina, Marcelle “Flipper” Van Houten, Bill “Parental Judgment” Altemeier, Nick “Not Yet” Altemeier, Daniel “Not My Pack” Mengedoht, and skipper John “Twisted Pack” Mengedoht  opted for a fairly conservative starboard tack start and were only briefly held up by a large boat to windward before tacking to cross the line. The wind angle and placement of the Freeway buoy led to many boats converging at different angles. Speedy Selchie (T-bird) achieved an early overlap to windward to go inside Full Moon but some other boats converging from behind ran out of room. The result was an E-Scow bashing into Full Moon’s outboard.

Lotsa boats behind.

[At least that’s the way I understand it. With one of my crew watching for overlaps and not seeing any, I drove for the mark once Selchie was clear. Anybody with an inside overlap of Full Moon would have been forced to miss the buoy to windward of Full Moon and that very clearly did not happen. The E-Scow crew, on the other hand, clearly felt I caused a problem for boats behind Full Moon, including them. If anybody can (calmly) explain that perspective to me, I’d actually like to hear it. If I could reasonably have done something differently that would have avoided getting hit, I certainly want to know. Otherwise, if you’re coming up behind a boat that is moving slower (same tack, same general course), it’s on you to avoid the collision!]

Weren't quite ready for this shot, were you?

Anyway, once around the Freeway buoy, Full Moon headed for the Gasworks shore before tacking toward the Aurora buoy. This allowed Full Moon to lay the mark without additional tacks, though it was a close thing. The Equalizer was then hoisted quickly for a fast beam reach straight to the AGC buoy. The takedown was difficult due to the wind angle but the spinnaker came down in time for a clean rounding and Full Moon headed back upwind to the north.

Marcelle likes this stuff!

The Freeway buoy was pleasantly free of traffic and Full Moon again headed for the Gasworks shore before tacking toward the Aurora buoy. This time, Full Moon overstood slightly and Westward (large C&C?) took advantage of a much longer waterline to sail past. Once the Equalizer was back up, though, Full Moon had the speed edge and, after some maneuvering, returned the favor by passing to leeward.

After another smooth rounding of the AGC buoy, it was on to the finish line but Westward wasn’t quite done. Passing to windward was not going to work (Full Moon can point pretty high!) so Westward eventually fell off to leeward. The finish line was favored at the windward end, though, and Full Moon still managed to stay (just) in front to take what we believe was sixth place.

Themeless in Seattle

Perhaps the best response to the "no theme" race was this herd of dinosaurs.

Due to protests on social media, the July 17 Duck Dodge became “Themeless in Seattle,” at least for the Race Committee. Full Moon crew Randy “Twisted & Tangled” Olsen, Judy “Wet” Tiffany, Dave “Wetter” Pulsifer, Erin “Cookies” Osberg, Daniel “Frenchy” Mengedoht, and skipper John “Crumbles” Mengedoht managed a front row start but were squeezed between a couple of T-birds to windward and speedy Scat to leeward, the other boats eventually managing to ease forward into clear air. Tacking wasn’t a good option, though, so Full Moon suffered a while in bad air. Calling the tack westward toward the AGC buoy was tricky with all the first start boats coming back under spinnaker but Full Moon had a decent rounding before launching the Equalizer for the long reach/run north.

Heading south toward the AGC buoy. Clear skies!

The drop was somewhat last-minute before rounding the Freeway buoy, the spinnaker only getting a little wet… Then it was a fairly straight shot past Gasworks to the Aurora buoy. Unfortunately, the tack at the buoy revealed jib sheets tangled with the spinnaker pole and several boats paraded by before the mess could be cleared. The rest of the leg south was uneventful and the Equalizer went up smoothly for the second northbound leg. All was not well on the take-down, however, as we did a bit of “shrimping” before the nylon monster was fully onboard.

Sunglasses required heading west into the sun.

The final two legs went just fine, thankfully, Full Moon finishing approximately tenth even with the struggles. Meanwhile, it was yet another sunny Tuesday evening with wind – it was great to be sailing on the lake!

Le French Cabin Man takes beverage orders...

Pyrate Night

Dread Pirates Neil, Randy, and John.

Full Moon crew Randy “Warm Seltzer” Olsen, Chuck “Cabin Guy” Weldy, Chad “Cupcake” Harnish, Neil “HDR” Piispanen, and skipper John “Ate the Parrot” Mengedoht attempted a pin-end port tack start for the Pirate Night Duck Dodge but were thwarted by starboard tack boats and ended up pretty far back in the fleet before crossing the line. Once out of the wind shadows of other boats, speed picked up nicely for a straight shot to the Freeway buoy.

There was WIND!

Without immediately knowing where the Aurora buoy was located, choosing when to tack was a gamble, but Full Moon managed to make it past Gasworks and to the buoy without additional tacks. Once around, the wind seemed a bit too far forward of the beam so the choice was made not to fly the Equalizer. Unfortunately, this proved costly when the wind shifted aft and got lighter on the reach/run to the Aurora buoy.

Third start must be getting kind of scrappy given the fenders left out...

The upwind leg was very puffy and Full Moon was on the verge of rounding up a couple of times but it sure was fun! Two fairly well placed tacks were necessary to reach the Freeway buoy and then it was back across the lake to where the Aurora buoy was supposed to be? It turns out the buoy was never properly anchored and it had migrated a bit south for the second lap!

Gotta love Cake or Death's spinnaker!

This time, the Equalizer was launched after rounding and some distance made up on boats ahead, though not enough to really matter. With a clean drop and tidy rounding of the AGC buoy, it was on to the finish line, Full Moon well out of contention but having had a blast on a sunny breezy evening.

Some boats REALLY get into this theme...