Solstice Race

The third start fleet heads for the AGC buoy.

The skipper’s choice for the Skipper’s Choice Duck Dodge was no theme at all. A theme every week is just too much work!

James and the Giant Jib.

Crew Randy “Invisible” Olsen, Doug “Short Lens” Schoemaker, James “Tacoma Limes” Schoemaker, Troy “Peaches” Charlesworth, Daniel “Pink” Mengedoht, and skipper John “Dodge, Dip, Duck, Dive and Dodge” Mengedoht enjoyed a decent start toward the pin end of the line as this had proved favorable last week with similar SE wind.

Troy and Daniel balance the boat.

Things generally went well on the first leg, but the wind was near zero and very shifty at the AGC buoy, leading to some parked or very slow-moving boats. With Full Moon on final approach on starboard tack with at least two boats close by to windward, Scat came zipping across in front on port tack, causing further confusion. In the end, Full Moon skipped the buoy rather than risk a collision. This disqualified us for the race, but we weren’t going to place anyway and coming around again for a second try just wouldn’t have been worth the effort!

Full Moon is at top left, in front of at least some other boats!

Heading back north on port tack, Full Moon had to avoid a number of southbound boats on starboard tack but still managed not to get too far to leeward, avoiding the need to tack for the Freeway buoy.

Watch out for floating distractions...

The Aurora buoy was set farther north and west than usual and Full Moon opted for a more southerly course to avoid extra tacks up against the moored ships on the north shore of the lake. This proved wise as Full Moon passed a few boats before rounding the buoy.

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Randy enjoys the smooth ride past Gasworks.

The final leg called for a spinnaker, but the crew was more interested in cold beer so Full Moon opted to sail deep with the genoa with a bit of wing and wing for a slow easy ride to the finish line. The weather was spectacular, especially for June, and we sailed on for quite awhile before heading to the marina.

Full Moon "finishes" just ahead of Ignitor.