Bronze Age

 

The second start fleet heads north to the Freeway buoy.

Full Moon crew Randy “Rainier” Olsen, Doug “Sunset” Schoemaker, Jeffrey “Kolsch” Schoemaker, Daniel “Short-timer” Mengedoht, and skipper John “Patience” Mengedoht were struggling for clear air for the start of the Decades Night Duck Dodge when the breeze filled in a bit. Rather than risk being over the line early, a “doughnut” maneuver bought some space and time, though it would have been nice to be closer to the Committee Boat with full speed on. There appeared to be a few boats over early – some by quite a bit – but we won’t name names, especially since Full Moon passed the two most obvious ones on the first leg to the AGC buoy.

Full Moon managed to keep the spinnaker flying but not everyone was so fortunate.

Two well-timed tacks brought Full Moon to the buoy in fading breeze and then quickly around, though a much larger boat with a bit more momentum was able to briefly get past. This was quickly rectified with the launching of the Equalizer, though the wind remained very light.

The wind was very light near Gasworks!

The leg to the Freeway buoy was quite long with the buoy set well north. Full Moon did pass several boats on this leg, though we were dismayed to see eventual winner Where’s the Beef well ahead. Meanwhile, a Harbor 20 had been slowly gaining. Once around the Freeway buoy, the Harbor 20 hugged the Gasworks shoreline while Full Moon took a longer path in hopes of better breeze. This paid off quite well and Full Moon was able to gain quite a bit before rounding the Aurora buoy, which was also set far north.

Many boats "parked" along the Eastlake shore.

The final leg was a bit nerve-wracking as the Harbor 20 appeared to be slowly gaining while the breeze was fading. Boats still trying to make it to the Freeway buoy were essentially parked along the Eastlake shore. In the end, Full Moon persevered, and we were astonished to get the horn for third place and the Bronze Duck!

Randy snags the Bronze Duck. Thanks, Committee!