Poor Starts Continue

Lucienne loves this stuff!

Full Moon crew Randy “Handy” Olsen, Robert “Healthy Snacks” Leykam, Lucienne “Tropical Dutch” Grace, Daniel “IMAX” Mengedoht, and skipper John “More Beer” Mengedoht were positioned reasonably well for the start of the Tropical Night Duck Dodge until a couple of starboard tack boats played spoiler (the line heavily favors port tack). We emerged unscathed but well behind the leaders. Two tacks were needed to round the Freeway buoy after which Full Moon continued toward Gasworks before tacking to the west.

Yes, Cap'n John steers with his knees while trimming the Equalizer...

Two more tacks brought Full Moon to the Aurora buoy and then the mighty Equalizer was launched. The breeze was a bit strong for the nylon monster, but we saw speeds regularly in the six-knot range and even up over seven a few times. A slightly early take-down was wise and then it was around the AGC buoy to head for the floating “island” mark to grab some free beers.

Daniel douses the jib post-race. Another gorgeous evening!

The final leg saw the wind fade a bit and Full Moon ended up pinned by Mouse (J30) just to windward and unable to make the finish line. Mouse finally tacked just before the line, too late for Full Moon, but somehow they managed to mess up the tack back, also missing the finish line buoy! Karma is a bitch… Since we were about tenth at that point, it wasn’t worth turning around to finish properly so score this a DNF. Given the gorgeous weather, we had nothing to complain about.

Port Tack Rules

Full Moon is in shadow but close to the line at the start. Boats to windward had a big advantage.

Full Moon crew Michael “1” Medina, Michael “A” Ward, Eileen “Helper” McHugh, Daniel “Pole Control” Mengedoht and skipper John “Slow” Mengedoht enjoyed a decent start for the Sea Creatures Duck Dodge before getting rolled by a big Catalina 36. As usual, port tack was heavily favored for the start, leading to lots of interesting maneuvers. Anyway, Full Moon ended up in good company with Tailwind (Capri 25) and unusual company with Anakena (Ranger 22) on the first and second legs, the Freeway buoy having been set farther west than usual.

The wind held reasonably well all the way to the Aurora buoy, Full Moon rounding well behind the leaders. After a brief delay to untangle the spinnaker pole, the Equalizer was launched for a fast reach down the lake, speeds exceeding 7 knots at times. This allowed Full Moon to leave many boats behind, including Tailwind and Anakena, while gaining substantially on the lead boats.

The Equalizer on a tight reach toward the AGC buoy.

Unfortunately, this was still not good enough to cross the line better than sixth place with Sommerfugl (Dragon), giant Leo Kai, and two SYC J22s ahead, among others. Meanwhile, it was wonderful to beat the shoreside heat on a brilliant sunny evening. The beverages were cold and life was good!

Sick Skipper

Full Moon skipped the Ren Faire Duck Dodge as skipper John was struck with an episode of Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo (BPPV), an inner ear condition leading to symptoms much like severe mal de mer. We'll be back next week!

A Series of Unfortunate Events

Full Moon opted to run near the starting line on starboard tack and then tacked when faced with a wall of port-tack boats. This worked until it didn’t, a jumble of boats on opposite tacks playing bumper boats. Full Moon eventually bailed out entirely with a 270-degree gybe before finally crossing the starting line for the Masquerade Ball Duck Dodge. Crew Michael “Bun Dip” Medina, Anne “Always Cold” Gustavson, Leslie “Premature Release” Synnestvedt, Daniel “Crazy Pole” Mengedoht and skipper John “Shift Misser” Mengedoht then made the best of things to try to crawl back into the top ten boats. Only two tacks were needed to round the Freeway buoy, followed by a relatively straight shot to the Aurora buoy.

Full Moon is stuck in the middle with nowhere to go. Yes, several boats were over early.

Unfortunately, the wind had shifted significantly to the northeast and Full Moon’s “turbo” spinnaker pole was preset on the wrong side for the long reach south. Once the Equalizer was deployed, things improved considerably, though there was no hope of getting near the lead boats.

The Equalizer came down nicely, but several boats converged at the AGC buoy, Full Moon managing to emerge just ahead of the cluster. It looked at first that a single tack would nicely lay the finish line, but the fickle wind had other ideas, Full Moon needing one last tack at the Committee Boat to cross. In the end, Full Moon was about 10th and behind all traditional rivals, but the sun was still up, and the beverages were cold and a good time was had by all.

Red, White and Bronze!

Full Moon crew Randy “Halyards” Olsen, Chad “Pickleball” Harnish, Karolyne “Damp Drop” Courville, Daniel “Boomwalker” Mengedoht, and skipper John “Telltales” Mengedoht enjoyed a good start for the Red, White and Blue Duck Dodge, battling with Sommerfugl (Dragon) for much of the first leg. Unfortunately, we tacked at exactly the wrong moment into a massive header and ended up with three more tacks before rounding the AGC buoy behind a Rocket 22, Sommerfugl, Mr. Nibbles (Ultimate 20) and a couple of other boats.

Daniel holds the duck while photographing the rest of the happy crew.

The Equalizer was soon launched, though, and Full Moon began to take places back while gaining on the leaders. The Equalizer got a bit wet on the douse but not enough to slow us down and Full Moon rounded the Freeway buoy in the thick of the competition.

Daniel adds to the duck collection on the mast. Yes, we have a lot of those but we've been racing in the Duck Dodge since 1995!

The leg to the Aurora buoy was nearly a straight shot, though the wind was a bit light and shifty. A final tack to the buoy proved slightly premature but Full Moon was able to head up just enough to round the buoy, ahead of Mr. Nibbles. On the final upwind leg, Full Moon managed to pull farther ahead of Mr. Nibbles and, a bit to our surprise, Full Moon got the horn for third place!