Wind!

The Pajama Night Duck Dodge turned out sunny and (reasonably) windy as well – perfect sailing conditions. Full moon crew Randy “Pole Position” Olsen, Michael “Paraglider” Medina, Katelynn “Observer” Holte, Daniel “Tough Pack” Mengedoht, and skipper John “John Darling” Mengedoht didn’t quite catch the starting flag sequence (a committee boat without a horn???) but still managed a decent start by following some of the more competent boats.

Full Moon heels on a tight reach to the Freeway buoy.

A few boats attempted a spinnaker on the first leg to the AGC buoy but the wind was mostly ahead of abeam and Full Moon did just fine with a genoa. Oddly enough, the long northbound leg to the Freeway buoy was a nearly close-hauled course so the spinnaker stayed in the bag. Up to this point, Full Moon was playing catch-up to occasional-rivals Ignitor (Martin 29T) and Necessary Evil (Catalina 30), both of which had an advantage in the relatively strong wind. However, Full Moon did better on the short leg from the Freeway buoy to the Aurora buoy and rounded ahead of them both. Some pole issues delayed hoisting the Equalizer for the long southbound leg and Ignitor got around to leeward but Necessary Evil couldn’t quite catch up. Dropping the Equalizer on a beam reach in strong breeze is a challenge so it was brought down a bit early to allow for it, which proved wise!

Almost to the finish line. Full Moon very nearly caught Ignitor (black boat).

Returning northbound, Necessary Evil found more speed (sometimes size does matter…) and Full Moon rounded the Freeway buoy disappointingly far behind both Necessary Evil and Ignitor. This time, Ignitor tacked immediately while Necessary Evil and Full Moon headed for Gasworks, which had worked out well on the first lap. Alas, the breeze was much lighter closer to shore and Ignitor remained comfortably ahead. Not so, Necessary Evil, as Full Moon outpointed and/or out-tacked them to round the Aurora buoy with a nice lead. On the final downwind leg to the finish, Full Moon gained substantially on Ignitor under spinnaker but not quite enough to get past before crossing the line. In the end, it was a blast duking it out with our rivals and a very fun evening on the lake.