Crazy Wigs!

Rainbow wigs rule!

After waiting a few extra weeks for all crew members to be fully vaccinated, Full Moon finally returned to racing action for the Crazy Wigs Duck Dodge. Enjoying the rare June combination of 80 degree temperatures and a nice northerly breeze, crew Michael “Pole Stopper” Medina, Marcelle “Pole Dancer” Van Houten, Adam “Cookie Monster” Michalak, Katharina “Spin-Dry” Stoll, Daniel “Still Pulling” Mengedoht, and skipper John “Rusty” Mengedoht managed a fairly good start, though bigger boats slowly crept up on the first leg to the Freeway buoy.

Katharina likes this racing stuff.

Traffic delayed any early tack toward the Aurora buoy, then more traffic and wind shifts led to some extra tacks just to make the buoy. Once around, the topping lift for the spinnaker pole refused to cooperate and the entire south-bound leg was spent trying to coerce the pole and spinnaker into a usable configuration. This naturally allowed quite a few boats to get by before the spinnaker finally came down before rounding the AGC buoy.

Daniel at his usual post.

With any hope of a decent finish long gone, Full Moon dropped out of the race and broke out the usual post-race food and beverages, though continuing to enjoy a fabulous light air sail around the north end of the lake. This ultimately proved to be an excellent decision when the wind dropped to zero at the south end of the lake, leaving a floating mass of first and second start boats struggling for what seemed like an hour trying to complete their second lap to finish.

John and Michael enjoy the fading light while heading back to the dock

The topping lift issue turned out to be a broken block at the base of the mast that jammed the line whenever any load was applied. This should be an easy fix before next week’s race.