Hot Christmas

Marcelle and John during the prestart. It was hot out there!

Full Moon crew Randy “Pointy End” Olsen, Michael “Buoys Are Optional” Medina, Marcelle “Chips N’ Dip” van Houten, Anne “Clockwise” Gustavson, and skipper John “Tequila” Mengedoht were lined up for a pretty good start for the Christmas in July Duck Dodge until the wind filled in during the final minute, causing some radical turns to try and stay behind the starting line. The result was being close to the unfavored Eastlake end of the line and not having full speed at the starting horn. Tacking to reach the Freeway buoy proved challenging with Full Moon pinned to leeward of another boat and unable to reach the buoy without having to bail out with a 360 degree turn. Given that we were far off the pace of the leaders, Full Moon settled for a DSQ and skipped the buoy.

Michael holds forth from the pit.

However, Full Moon continued racing all the same. Rounding the Aurora buoy on the stern of Kari-J (San Juan 28, looks identical to Zephyr?) led to being stuck in “bad air” from a couple of boats as the spinnaker was hoisted. Eventually, Full Moon pulled clear and was able to pass four or five boats on the long downwind leg to the AGC buoy.

Anne is amused by the Captain trimming while driving as Randy focuses on the competition ahead.

The wind began to fade on the final leg until Full Moon was ultimately “parked” in hot, dead air. Rather than just sit in the heat (Seattle set a record for the day!), the jib was dropped, and the iron sail fired up to create some breeze. Some cold beverages took the edge off, too. While not much of a race for Full Moon, it was nice to get out on the lake and have some fun.

Full Moon under spinnaker.

Since Full Moon was in third start again this week (the crew doesn’t want to do two laps), there is risk of “the pot calling the kettle black” but we were surprised to see a Hobie 33, J92S and some very large boats in third start. A Hobie 33 and J92S should both have similar performance to first start perennial Typsy Gypsy (Soverel 33).

The obligatory sunset shot during the post-race libations.