Martinis!

The final Duck Dodge is always Martini Night aboard Full Moon, though there is always the customary gift for the Race Committee, given the official theme. With a whopping nine people aboard (adding more than 50% of the weight of the boat itself) plus a desire to race for one lap instead of two, Full Moon elected to go in third start – a reasonable choice given some of the competition (T-birds, J24s).

Not quite a Full Moon record but that's a lot of "crew!"

Crew Randy “Boom Box” Olsen, Marcelle “Magic Fingers” Van Houten, Michael “Pole Control” Medina, Dave “Too Tall” Pulsifer, Judy “Blanket” Tiffany, Camille “Chicken” Elliott, Jean “Big Smile” Van Houten, Rolf “Chute Scooper” Van Houten, and skipper John “Three Olives” Mengedoht approached the line on starboard tack but had to tack to avoid a group of port tackers (tonnage trumps right of way!) and then duck behind another starboard tack boat, resulting in a mediocre start. Suffering in the resulting “dirty” air didn’t help and Full Moon was in about 20^th place at the Freeway buoy.

Third start heads for the Freeway buoy. Full Moon is somewhere behind these boats...

Clear air on the second leg helped a bit, along with some crisp tacking, allowing Full Moon to pick off a few boats before rounding the Aurora buoy and hoisting the mighty Equalizer for the downwind run. While a couple of gybes would have been beneficial, it could have been difficult with all the people crowded on deck so Full Moon made do with sailing nearly dead downwind. The Ranger 22 True Blue did a great job to stay in front until a boat with a cruising chute took them up a bit to windward, opening a lane for Full Moon to get past to leeward. Full Moon also managed to get past a number of other boats on this leg, though most were not flying spinnakers.

Randy and Camille are loving this stuff!

A smooth drop at the AGC buoy and a quick gybe brought Full Moon onto the final leg. Amazingly, Full Moon had nearly caught up to a couple of second start boats and, as the J24 Beagle crossed the line just ahead, a horn sounded for third place. Full Moon was fourth! Tuesday (Columbia 26) was first and Wandering Angus (Thunderbird) took second.

Nightfall comes way too early these days. Would you believe Full Moon beat that big Beneteau?

Once the jib was dropped, it was time to fire up the cocktail shaker and break out the late “dinner” munchies. It was a beautiful evening on the water and a great way to finish the summer season!