Equalized!

The wind was light out of the northwest for the Goth Night Duck Dodge and the starting line angle made a starboard tack approach impossible. Full Moon crew Michael “What’s The Score” Medina, Marcelle “In My Pocket” Van Houten, Daniel “Tippy Toes” Mengedoht, Poorva “Runner” Joshi, and skipper John “Channeling Randy” Mengedoht were very nearly over early but managed a good start and briefly led the fleet. Tailwind (Capri 25) had more speed crossing the line and was able to roll by to windward to take the lead.

Full Moon leads third start, at least for a while.

Wildfire (Mirage 24) and Necessary Evil (Catalina 30) converged just in front at the Freeway buoy while Mouse (J30) and Slingshot (J30) closed from behind. Full Moon tacked to avoid sitting in disturbed wind from the boats right in front, gambling that the wind would be somewhat consistent across the north end of the lake. Wildfire fell back but the J30s pulled ahead, Full Moon rounding the Aurora buoy in fifth place.

Full Moon closes in on Tailwind, left, Mouse, center, and Slingshot right. The blue boat was from second start.

The Equalizer was soon launched and, following many years of advice from Original Crew Randy Olsen, Full Moon headed more toward the middle of the lake while the leaders battled it out closer to the Westlake shore. The combination of the mighty oversized spinnaker and course was magic as Full Moon reeled in and passed all the boats save Necessary Evil before rounding the AGC buoy.

Full Moon on approach to the AGC buoy.

With a smooth spinnaker takedown, Full Moon was off on a straight shot to the finish line, getting the horn for second place and the Silver Duck! Mouse was third, followed by Tailwind and Slingshot.

We were treated to a beautiful sunset, post race.

From Zero to Holdin' On!

Lake Union was nearly glassy smooth prior to second start.

Full Moon crew Randy “NA” Olsen, Ian “Ballast” Mengedoht, Rebecca “Safety First” Herivel, Daniel “Pole Control” Mengedoht, and skipper John “Target Aquired” Mengedoht arrived to literally zero wind speed prior to the Sleepover Duck Dodge. Miraculously, the wind filled in from the southwest as the second start got underway. Full Moon approached the start line on port tack, which required a late tack to cross the line in about ninth place. Heading down the lake, Full Moon was well back from the leaders but managed to move up to fifth rounding the AGC buoy.

Due to traffic, Full Moon delayed a jibe but then turned behind the J30 Slingshot and launched the Equalizer to move into fourth. It was then a speedy straight shot up the lake, Full Moon gaining some more but not enough to catch the leaders as the wind provided all boats with good speed.

Full Moon rips along with the Equalizer just prior to dropping the jib.

The take-down went smoothly before the Freeway buoy and Full Moon romped on another straight shot to the Aurora buoy. The final leg went well, though Slingshot managed to get past, their size helping a lot in a good breeze. In the end, Full Moon was fifth, an excellent finish given the mediocre start!

Gold?

Full Moon is the fourth boat from the left - great start!

The wind was out of the southwest for the first Duck Dodge of 2026. The goal for Full Moon was to start at or near the buoy end, which worked out pretty well with Full Moon first or close to first across the line.

Full Moon is squeezed between late-tacking Solara and a J22 at the AGC buoy.

Crew Randy “Untwisted” Olsen, Michael “Mariners” Medina, Chad “Beer Meister” Harnish, Daniel “Twisted” Mengedoht and skipper John “Patience” Mengedoht then sailed a solid first leg, nearly laying the AGC buoy. A late tack required ducking speedy Scamp (Harbor 20) then tacking back just inside a J22 from SYC. Unfortunately, relative giant Solara (40’) came in on port before tacking right in front of Full Moon, creating a tight squeeze with the J22. Collision was averted, Full Moon rounding the buoy in third place.

Full Moon buzzes the Committee Boat while gaining on Scamp.

It took a while to launch the mighty Equalizer (we haven’t done this since September), but it paid off as always, allowing Full Moon to eventually get by Scamp while Solara faded back without a spinnaker up. The Freeway buoy was farther north than normal but Full Moon rounded in first place, just behind the last of the second start boats.

Crew post-race with gold duck!

Unfortunately, that boat was then directly in front of Full Moon for the westward leg, making it difficult to get by or to sail fast in the “dirty air.” This allowed boats behind to gain a bit, Necessary Evil (Catalina 30) nearly catching Full Moon at the Aurora buoy as the wind went light. Necessary Evil did get past on the final leg, though Full Moon returned the favor a bit later. Meanwhile, Scamp was still in the mix, sailing a bit closer to the middle of the lake where the wind was slightly better, and giant Solara was charging up from behind (sometimes size does matter!). At the finish, Solara got a horn followed in quick succession by a horn for Full Moon and another for Scamp. And then another for Necessary Evil.

Cap'n John stretches to install one more duck on the mast.

Full Moon dropped the jib and swung around to collect our duck sticker from the Race Committee, expecting silver. Much to our surprise, it was gold! We then encountered Solara, who let us know they, too, received a gold duck for third start. As it turns out, Solara was scored as being in fourth start. There is no way to unravel that so we'll just roll with it!