The final Duck Dodge of summer is always Martini Night
aboard Full Moon, dating way back to 1996. Crew Randy “Hardshell” Olsen,
Michael “Submariner” Medina, Marcelle “Key Thief” Van Houten, Troy “Bun Dip”
Charlesworth, Kaylee “Snacks” Charlesworth, Daniel “Dry Deck” Mengedoht, and
skipper John “Mr. Magoo” Mengedoht had a decent start, though thwarted by a
slow-moving Hunter 280 directly ahead.
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| Marcelle shoots a photo of wet Michael as Troy warms him up. |
The wind was relatively strong, shifty and very gusty. On
the first leg,
Full Moon was overpowered in the gusts, leading to a
round-up auto-tack at one point with poor Michael literally submerged above the
waist for a few seconds, trapped on the low side, though smiling at the
craziness. (Skipper John couldn’t reach the mainsheet quickly to relieve the
pressure immediately.) Kaylee also got wet before order was restored.
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| Kaylee isn't sure this skipper can be trusted. |
After eventually rounding the AGC buoy, the Equalizer was
launched with a course virtually dead downwind. With jibing inhibited by the extra-long
“turbo” pole, this meant sailing by the lee more than once, not a recipe for
speed, though we did see over 6 knots at one point. While preparing to douse
the spinnaker, two boats to the east collided and turned into
Full Moon’s
path and
Full Moon had to jibe to avoid a collision, leaving the
spinnaker and pole both on the leeward side. It took a few minutes to get the
spinnaker and pole down while the jib remained backwinded on the windward side,
slowing progress considerably, though
Full Moon did make it around the
Freeway buoy.
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| Randy demonstrates his vintage 90s martini glass holders. |
With the mess cleared up,
Full Moon had a straight
shot to the Aurora buoy. Heading upwind again,
Full Moon was again
overpowered and Troy got to experience a “bun dip” on the low side, though at
least there was no round-up. A few tacks later,
Full Moon crossed the
finish line, definitely not in duck contention, though also definitely not
last. Time for Martinis and some dry clothes!
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| Michael's PFD didn't inflate while under water - it waited until hours later on the light rail! |
It has been a great season with 18 different people on
the crew, not counting the skipper.
Full Moon managed five ducks,
excellent in a competitive fleet that included (at times) a J80, J24s, two
J30s, an Ultimate 20, a 40’ + Beneteau, and a Hobie catamaran – all much faster
boats than
Full Moon is supposed to be.
