The Beer Grab

Island Boys preparing to serve hundreds of thirsty racers.

The plan was to attempt a port tack start somewhere between the pin and middle of the start line but traffic slowed things way down and Full Moon ended up with a relatively poor start for the Tropical Night Duck Dodge. Worse, our old rival Ignitor was ahead and, even loaded up with lots of people, perfectly positioned to provide “dirty” air for much of the first leg. Full Moon crew Michael “Grab ‘Em From The Top” Medina, Marcelle “Rose” Van Houten, Chad “Dry Drop” Harnish, Daniel “Basher” Mengedoht, Troy “Ouch!” Charlesworth, and skipper John “To The Beach” Mengedoht persevered, of course, passing Ignitor to leeward before rounding the Freeway buoy, and were able to lay the Aurora buoy with just one tack near Gasworks.

Full Moon (just right of the Space Needle) will be ahead of all these boats before reaching the AGC buoy.

With the pole up and ready to go, the Equalizer zipped right up and proved its worth as Full Moon picked off several boats on the long reach to the AGC buoy. A conservative drop made for a tidy rounding and Full Moon zoomed off toward the infamous Tropical Night “island,” snagging multiple cups of beer while passing at nearly five knots!

Michael, Chad, and Marcelle demonstrate their beer-grabbing technique.

Completing the first lap upwind, the fleet had spread out quite a bit, Full Moon enjoying relatively clear air to the Freeway buoy. The second lap was then very similar to the first, though the “island” was predictably out of beer the second time around (not that we didn’t have our own supply). In the end, Full Moon finished about eighth, which was awesome given the start. Meanwhile, it was yet another gorgeous evening on the lake, the nearly full moon putting on a nice show rising up over Capitol Hill.

Full Moon in post-race mode, enjoying the sunset.