Recovery for the Bronze

Full Moon heads toward the Aurora buoy. Most of the boats ahead will soon be behind!

Full Moon crew Randy “Popcorn” Olsen, Daniel “Soundtrack” Mengedoht, Robert “Solo Cup” Leykam, and skipper John “Relaxed” Mengedoht were late to the starting line for the Olympics Duck Dodge, crossing the line near the back of the fleet. The Race Committee unusually chose a downwind start, the wind having shifted from the southwest to nearly due south. With a relatively short first leg and anticipating a reach instead of a run, Full Moon opted not to use a spinnaker and, amazingly, managed to use clear air to claw past nearly half the boats ahead before rounding the Freeway buoy.

Full Moon about to round the AGC buoy. The T-bird will be passed on the final leg.

Full Moon had good speed on the close reach past Gasworks, but the wind dropped to nearly nothing heading to the Aurora buoy and a group of boats converged. Then, with a (relatively) wide gap between other boats and the buoy and nobody hardening up their course, Full Moon easily slipped inside and around for another large gain.

Daniel tests the Bronze Medal for third place.

The long upwind leg south featured different wind directions on different parts of the course and Full Moon was able to enjoy a long stretch pointing nearly straight down the lake, gaining significantly on boats farther east. This good fortune wouldn’t last, though, as conditions became very shifty and lighter approaching the AGC buoy and multiple tacks were needed to get around.

The skipper adds to the 2024 Duck Collection.

The Equalizer was put to good use for the final leg, the course being directly downwind. Much to our amazement, a horn sounded as Full Moon crossed the finish line – Full Moon had taken third place for the Bronze Duck!