With a variety of flags flying, Full Moon crew
Randy “Fender” Olsen, Daniel “Conch Republic” Mengedoht, Robert “Groom” Leykam,
Lucienne “Bride” Grace, and skipper John “Tight Squeeze” Mengedoht made certain
not to be over early for the Red, White and Blue Duck Dodge but still managed a
decent second-row start. The unusual northeast wind made the “pin” end of the
line favored but Full Moon only needed two tacks to reach the Freeway
buoy, passing a boat or two in the process.
 |
| Full Moon in the prestart before hoisting sails. |
Initially favoring a northward track, the Aurora buoy was
spotted farther south, and it was easy to fall off to the layline.
Unfortunately,
Leo Kai and another large boat from the second start were
clogging the works near the buoy, moving very slowly. With another boat coming
in on port tack from the north (which should have avoided all the starboard
tack boats), there suddenly was no room to maneuver, resulting in a bit of
bumper boats action.
 |
| Full Moon is in the second row for the start. |
Once around,
Full Moon hoisted the mighty
Equalizer, though the wind angle and strength made it a struggle to hoist the
final four feet. Meanwhile,
Full Moon still had great speed southbound
which only improved once the hoist was completed. Takedowns can be challenging
in reaching conditions so
Full Moon was a bit conservative with a
slightly early drop but there didn’t appear to be any direct competitors
nearby.
Leo Kai had managed to get barely back ahead at the AGC buoy
(sometimes size matters) but
Full Moon tacked after rounding for clear
air while
Leo Kai rumbled eastward.
 |
| Full Moon (blue, black and white spinnaker) getting past Leo Kai approaching the AGC buoy. |
Approaching the finish line,
Full Moon needed two
tacks to cross but had to yield to the Capri 25
Tailwind as well as an
unnamed J30. Since
Tailwind also needed a couple of tacks, this led to a
tacking duel,
Tailwind prevailing at the end (they’d had the advantage from
the beginning) to take second place with
Full Moon third for another
Bronze Duck. By virtue of the new Duck Dodge rules, this means
Full Moon
will have to be in second start for the next three weeks.
