Jungle Boogie

Ignitor earned the Black Duck for best theme participation.

The wind was nearly nonexistent before the start of the Welcome to the Jungle Duck Dodge but it miraculously started filling in just as the first start boats began their runs to the line. Full Moon crew Randy “Pole Position” Olsen, Chris “The Boot” Grange, Spencer “Pink Cookies” Grange, Tina “Basil Mint” Hein, Daniel “Tarantino” Mengedoht, and skipper John “Grey Poupon” Mengedoht managed a good start near the Committee Boat, though being farther west might have reduced the number of tacks needed to reach the Freeway buoy.

Nice to see another Santana 525 (Flying Burrito), though it races in third start.

After an easy rounding, it was a tight reach past Gasworks in a straight shot to the Aurora buoy. With the pole already up, it was then time to deploy the Equalizer, which went up smoothly. Unfortunately, a gybe set would have been a much better choice (though it would have meant moving the jib across later before hoisting it). Once gybed and pointed the right direction, the Equalizer performed its usual magic, Full Moon passing some boats and leaving others behind. Gybing back coincided with a wind shift for a nice broad reach to the AGC buoy where Full Moon rounded just outside of speedy Selchie (Thunderbird) and just ahead of a white T-bird, though well behind race leader Scat. Decent tactics and “strategery” (and a little luck) enabled Full Moon to be ahead of both ‘birds on the final leg to the finish (it was a one-lap race), a rare victory over Selchie.