The Mirror Ball is All

Full Moon returned to racing for Prom Night after two weeks of no Duck Dodge (too hot on June 29 and no race planned for July 6). After so many years of this theme we skipped the prom attire and settled for just hanging the little mirror ball from the backstay. Congratulations to old rival Ignitor, however, which scored the Black Duck.

Ignitor scored the Black Duck!

With a reaching start, crew Randy, Dave, Judy, Daniel and skipper John set up near the buoy end of the start line in hopes that a hotter angle and less congestion would be better than a slightly shorter distance. Unfortunately, Full Moon was over early, though we had company to share in our embarrassment. (Not that the race committee seemed to notice?) Approaching the AGC buoy, the wind got very light (as usual) and traffic got heavy (as usual) and Full Moon actually got pushed onto the buoy by two boats close to windward.

Once around, it was a straight shot upwind to the Freeway buoy with Full Moon close behind Ignitor. Splitting tacks on the way to the Aurora buoy (which was set far to the north) brought Full Moon right onto Ignitor's transom but a leisurely spinnaker hoist allowed the gap to increase. Full Moon almost got by closing in on the AGC buoy but couldn't quite get past the wind shadow of the bigger boat.

The upwind leg to the Freeway buoy was similar to the first lap but Full Moon had better luck on the next leg and managed to round the Aurora buoy just in front of Ignitor. Unfortunately, there were issues with the spinnaker hoist and Ignitor surged back into the lead, this time for good. It was great fun to have some boat to boat racing with our old rival and yet another gorgeous evening on the lake.

Full Moon enjoys the post-race glow (far right).