Santa's Helpers

Full Moon heading for the line (4th from left).

Full Moon crew Chuck “Bubbles” Weldy, Dave “Vitamin R” Pulsifer, Judy “Gay Bar” Tiffany, Daniel “Trapped” Mengedoht and skipper John “Rudolf” Mengedoht were a little late to the starting line for the Christmas in July Duck Dodge, struggling in very light air. Once moving, the wind remained light all the way to the AGC buoy and got worse as boats attempted sailing downwind after rounding. Complicating matters greatly, the wind began to shift and fill from the north, bringing the entire third start fleet at an opposing angle and with right of way (starboard tack). The few boats with spinnakers up were now in a pickle and maneuvering for everyone was challenging, though we didn’t hear any actual collisions.

Daniel contemplates all the boats behind us.

Farther north, the wind picked up even more and Full Moon was soon flying along at hull speed to the Freeway buoy. Full Moon opted to head for Gasworks rather than tack immediately but the breeze dropped closer to shore and this didn’t pay off. A couple of tacks were needed to round the Aurora buoy and then it was time to try out our former “cabin boy” on the foredeck. It took awhile to get everything ready for hoisting but the Equalizer went up and was soon pulling hard on a beam reach all the way to the AGC buoy.

There were lots of close passes in opposite directions, many worse than this!

The drop went fine and Full Moon returned upwind for a straight shot to the Freeway buoy. Staying a bit farther from Gasworks than on the first lap proved wise. For the final leg, with nobody near enough to pass or pass us, we took it easy on the foredeck crew and used the genoa, which actually pulled quite well. In the end, it was another great evening on the lake and a good time was had by all.

It's always a good time on Full Moon!