Good Until It Wasn't

The Skipper’s Choice Duck Dodge was highly unusual with a course utilizing only the Aurora and AGC buoys, a starting buoy consisting of two fenders with a red life jacket, and a starting line that, for once, encouraged a starboard tack start. Full Moon crew Randy “Stripes” Olsen, Robert “Warm Beer” Leykam, Lucienne “Only Boat I’ve Been On” Grace, Daniel “Rocker” Mengedoht, and skipper John “It’s The Duck Dodge” Mengedoht managed a decent start and proceeded nearly to the Westlake shore before tacking north. Unfortunately, boats that headed north earlier appeared to have enjoyed better wind, leaving Full Moon well behind the leaders.

Daniel surveys the fleet during the pre-start action.

Once around the Aurora buoy, the Equalizer was launched but Full Moon was stuck between two boats, and it took a while to break clear. Full Moon then spent much of the long south-bound leg running parallel with Necessary Evil (Catalina 30) while catching and passing several other boats that were closer to shore. Then the wind died, leaving a bunch of boats drifting slowly toward the buoy. As it often does, the wind began to fill in from behind and some of the boats that had been passed were able to return the favor, though all were moving very slowly.

After finally rounding the AGC buoy in a tight cluster, Full Moon wallowed with little progress, stuck with bigger boats on both sides with next to no wind. Given lateness of the evening (it gets dark WAY too soon!), the skipper decided to allow “kinetics” (rocking the boat and sculling the rudder) to propel the boat forward. This is kind of fun – and surprisingly effective – though not particularly good for the sails. Some nearby boats loudly took exception to our aerobic dance moves. Apparently, some people take the Duck Dodge a little too seriously…

It gets dark early these days...

Full Moon eventually crossed the finish line (we like to “finish” even if we have to motor!), still clearly using kinetics to move forward, just behind the top finishers. It would have been interesting if the Race Committee had awarded a duck to Full Moon. It clearly wouldn’t have been fair to the sailors patiently relying on wind alone but, there was that race two years ago… (See “Rockin’ The Pink from August 7, 2024.)