Invisible Buoy

The fire boat Chief Seattle greeted the Duck Dodge fleet.

The Pride Night Duck Dodge featured decent wind and sunny skies. Full Moon crew Michael “Historic” Medina, Daniel “Gordian Knot” Mengedoht, Anne “Dry Drop” Gustavson, and skipper John “Legendary” Mengedoht set up for the favored port tack start as starboard tack would barely cross the line. Unfortunately, several boats opted for starboard tack anyway and Full Moon had to duck a few then tack as well. When the dust settled, Full Moon was about eighth, though several positions were regained on the upwind leg.

Chasing down other boats with the Equalizer.

After rounding the Freeway buoy, Full Moon suffered in the wind shadow of a large Catalina until finally crawling a bit to windward at Gasworks. A few more boats were picked off on this leg, which ended in confusion as nobody could find the Aurora buoy!

Full Moon chases down Tailwind.

Heading south, the Equalizer was quickly launched to good advantage, Full Moon passing another boat or two including a T-bird and, nearing the AGC buoy, the speedy Capri 25 Tailwind. While the spinnaker came down cleanly, the pole ended up fouling the jib sheets and both Tailwind and the T-bird passed by during the untangling. Once detangled, Full Moon caught the T-bird again and gained on Tailwind but not enough. Much to our surprise, though, Tailwind got the horn for first place with Full Moon second for the silver duck! Looks like we’ll be in second start for the next few races…

T-bird and Tailwind chasing Full Moon with flogging jib.

Vertigo!

Full Moon (middle left) heads into the lead just after the start.

Full Moon skipped 70s Night due to a blown-out water pump impeller. Returning to action with the outboard repaired, skipper John “BPPV” Mengedoht was suffering from vertigo (inner ear issue) but crew Randy “Vertigo Knot” Olson, Daniel “Vertigo Pole” Mengedoht, and Chad “Becalmer” Harnish helped Full Moon enjoy an excellent start for the Mardi Gras Duck Dodge, leading the fleet to the Freeway buoy. The Harbor 20 Scamp was close behind, though, and chose a better course on the second leg to round the Aurora buoy ahead.

Dizzy skipper enjoying the lead on the first leg. Lotsa boats behind!

The Equalizer was quickly launched and, once clear of a much bigger (second start) boat, Full Moon headed off on the (mostly) beam reach south, passing several second start boats. Scamp, meanwhile, had headed more for the middle of the lake, finding better wind about halfway down the leg, and was able to hold their lead at the AGC buoy.

Adding the silver duck sticker to the mast.

Full Moon gained on the final upwind leg but couldn’t quite catch Scamp. In the end Full Moon second for the silver duck – an excellent result. Third-place went to the Ranger 26 Honey Bee, which was considerably farther behind.

Predictably Unpredictable

Full Moon skipped Movie Night due to the forecast, though it turned out to be a decent evening. Bummer!

Skipper is multitasking while the Foredeck crew checks the Mariners score.

Wind at the dock prior to the Commodore’s Ball Duck Dodge was solid out of the west-southwest but had faded to next to nothing by the start. Full Moon was well positioned for the start until forced to go around a boat completely stalled on port tack. The first leg to the AGC buoy was then painful in the very light air, a late shift adding a couple of tacks before rounding.

Isn't the pole supposed to be on this side?

The pole was preset assuming the forecast southwest wind would continue but it was not to be as the wind had clocked around to the southeast (!), though it was at least filling in. So Full Moon broad-reached on starboard tack for a good portion of the leg before finally gybing and launching the Equalizer. Even then a wind shift forced a gybe back, though we continued with the pole on the “wrong” side until the wind shifted back again.

The sun attempts to poke through. It wasn't warm but not freezing either.

The take-down went smoothly at the Freeway buoy and it was then a straight shot in a building breeze to the Aurora buoy, which was set further south than usual and closer to the Westlake shore. The final leg was upwind but only required a few tacks and Full Moon finished eighth, not bad given the poor first leg and lack of spinnaker for so much of the second leg.