Fantastic Start to Fall

Full Moon elected to forgo the Rum Run on Saturday but still got out to enjoy the sunny warm weather (high of 79 degrees!). After a trip home and back for the Yamaha to change the oil, a spin around the lake was inevitable. We'll have rain this week but fall is often great sailing weather!

The outboard is prepared for a trip home and an oil change. It barely fits on the hand-truck but it works better than the dock carts.

You wouldn't know it from this photo but the lake was packed with boats, kayaks, and paddle boards.

Halyard Hunter!

Marcelle on her way back down the mast, halyard in hand.

After a few weeks of head-scratching on the best and safest way to retrieve Full Moon's main halyard from the top of the mast (see the Invisible Mainsail post), Marcelle "Halyard Hunter" Van Houten volunteered for a trip up the mast in a bosun's chair, with Michael "Muscles" Medina and skipper John "Safety Line" Mengedoht grinding both the jib halyard and standard spinnaker halyard. Since these two halyards don't go to the top of the mast (Full Moon has a fractional rig), Marcelle made use of a lightweight extension pole with "hand-crafted" hook to snag the main halyard and bring it down. Thanks, Marcelle!

Invisible Mainsail

The Duck Dodge finale, “Martini Night” aboard Full Moon, had a challenging beginning as the main halyard parted ways with the mainsail at the top of the mast as it was being hoisted. Crew Randy “KJR” Olsen, Michael “Two Toots” Medina, Marcelle “Olives, Please” Van Houten, Adam “Ascot” Michalak, Katharina “Fancy Dress” Stoll, and skipper John “Captain Solo” Mengedoht swiftly decided to begin the race with just the jib. Unfortunately, Full Moon does not sail at all well without the mainsail, as prestart maneuvers clearly demonstrated.

The Invisible Mainsail deployed upwind.

It was then swiftly decided to make use of the “invisible mainsail” (outboard), to “sail” the course rather than just cruise the lake. The invisible sail proved highly effective as Full Moon easily passed all third start boats and moved up into the second start fleet. (Care was taken not to cause difficulty to other boats due to the wake, especially since the wind had faded to nearly zero.) After rounding the Freeway and Aurora buoys, the Equalizer was launched and the invisible mainsail was deactivated, though still dragging through the water, ready for quick redeployment.

It's much easier to see the spinnaker through the Invisible Mainsail!

Surprisingly, the Equalizer alone was sufficient for Full Moon to maintain pace with second start boats, including a Capri 25 and a J22, on the long reach/run to the AGC buoy. The jib was rehoisted and the Equalizer dropped cleanly to the deck just before rounding the buoy.

Full Moon's spinnaker is just visible at the far left. The wind was very light!

The invisible mainsail was again deployed for the final leg to the “finish,” where Full Moon was greeted with a siren and whooping from the Committee Boat. Martinis were soon dispensed to the thirsty crew as Full Moon continued “sailing” and enjoying a very pleasant evening on the lake.

Many stern lights are visible as quite a few boats struggled to finish in the dark.

Slow Boat to Aurora

Daniel, Judy, Anne, John, and Dave. We'll miss you Daniel but best of luck for your senior year!

Full Moon crew Michael Medina, Dave Pulsifer, Judy Tiffany, Anne Gustavson, Daniel Mengedoht, and skipper John Mengedoht were well-positioned for the start of the Team Spirit Duck Dodge and looking forward to having some decent wind for the race. Unfortunately, the wind faded to near-nothing approaching the Freeway buoy, leading to a large group of boats barely making way. Full Moon is usually a great light air boat but suffered greatly in the congestion. The extremely light wind continued to the Aurora buoy, though Full Moon did find a few pockets of breeze here and there.

Full Moon is caught in the pack heading for the Aurora buoy. We passed virtually all of these boats before the finish! 

Once around the Aurora buoy, there was enough wind for the Equalizer, enabling Full Moon to pass quite a few boats that had gotten by around the Freeway buoy. The drop and rounding of the AGC buoy went well and it was on to the finish line in the fading light. Light winds or not, a great time was had by all!