Late For the Prom

Full Moon is beyond the red J24 at the start.

Full Moon crew Michael “Almost 70” Medina, Daniel “Chaperone” Mengedoht, Kristen “Perfect Drop” Rue, and skipper John “Early” Mengedoht prepared for the Prom Night Duck Dodge with Tux t-shirts and our traditional mirror ball. Unfortunately, skipper John approached the starting area a bit early and ended up near the “pin” end and trapped to leeward of relative giant (Catalina 36) Tranquilitee. Once able to duck behind and to windward of Tranquilitee, which appeared unable to point very well, Full Moon was near the back of the pack.

Michael holds the jib sheet.

This intolerable situation didn’t last too long, Full Moon gaining on the first leg and passing Tranquilitee via a well-timed “slam dunk” tack. Rounding the Freeway buoy meant just continuing straight for Gasworks and tacking near the shore. This reduced the number of tacks needed to reach the Aurora buoy. With a starboard tack approach locked in with sufficient time, the spinnaker pole was raised and the Equalizer launched just after rounding the buoy.

Daniel mans the "pit."

Full Moon then managed to pass three boats with spinnakers on the broad reaching leg south while gaining nicely on a fourth boat approaching the AGC buoy. The Equalizer came down perfectly but there was an issue yet again with the pole after jibing around the buoy. (The extra long “turbo” pole can be challenging to stow.)

Full Moon (blue, black and white spinnaker) heading for the AGC buoy.

The final leg upwind was a straight shot, and Full Moon crossed the line in what we believe was seventh place, not at all bad given the poor start. Meanwhile, it was a gorgeous warm evening with a nice breeze, a welcome rarity in June.