Pajamarama

Pinkie, Teddy, and Clothes Horse observe the competition.

Doug Schoemaker photo.

Depends scrutinizes the spinnaker shape with support from Cabin Boy. Nice to see all those boats behind us.

Doug Schoemaker photo.

Legs!

Doug Schoemaker photo.

Full Moon enjoyed a very full crew for the Pajama Night Duck Dodge on yet another spectacular evening. Art “Hot Legs” Teller, Debra “Teddy” Ricard, Doug “Sunset Shot” Schoemaker, Michael “Clothes Horse” Medina, Marcelle “Pinkie” Lynde, Daniel “Cabin Boy” Mengedoht, and skipper John “Depends” Mengedoht had a timely start but were blanketed by a cloud of sails crowding in at the Committee Boat, including the relative giant Buchan 37 Distance. Once into clear air, Full Moon got up to speed and made some good tacks to approach the “AGC” buoy. With a boat stalled right at the buoy, Full Moon was able to swing a bit wide and quickly launch the Equalizer spinnaker, picking off three surprised boats, including the speedy Olson 25 Dreams.

After a decent jibe at the “Challenger” buoy, Full Moon kept rocketing along on a nice beam reach, passing a Santana 20, a J24, and the J-22 Rawhide while holding off Dreams. With a smooth spinnaker drop at the Freeway buoy, it was back upwind to head into a second lap. Unfortunately, the Santana and Dreams managed to get by on this long leg and the two J boats were in close contention throughout the second lap. Full Moon almost caught Dreams on the second long reaching leg but had to contend with Rawhide trying to come up from behind and the three boats rounded the final buoy in close formation.

The wind got a bit light and shifty for the final leg to the finish and, unfortunately, both J boats got by to drop Full Moon to a still commendable 11th out of a very large fleet. It was great fun to mix it up with Dreams and the J boats while leaving old rivals Fortis and Shogun well behind.

Gotcha!

Full Moon crew Randy “Does It All” Olsen, Galina “Gripper” Gordeeva, Katie “Rusty Red Wagon” Freels, Sara “I Hear Nothing” Skinner, and skipper John “Slow” Mengedoht nailed the start for Duck Dodge No. 9 but inexplicably struggled upwind on the first leg and fell back to 12th to round the Aurora buoy. Launching the mighty Equalizer spinnaker helped considerably for the downwind leg and Full Moon began to gain on some Thunderbirds and a J24 while leaving the back half of the fleet well behind.

Returning upwind from the AGC buoy to the Freeway mark, Full Moon found the groove and made the most of the wind shifts, continuing to slowly gain on boats ahead. The often challenging leg past Gasworks Park saw no change but on the second downwind leg, Full Moon finally engaged two T-birds, Predator and Zoe, while holding off a pesky red Santana 20. Full Moon prevailed at the end of the run and rounded the AGC buoy with Predator a few boatlengths behind.

Charging ahead upwind, Full Moon held off the three challengers and, midway up the lake, passed a J24 as well to move into ninth. Closer to the Freeway buoy, Full Moon crossed paths with relative giant Mata Hari, forcing Mata Hari to duck behind. Not far ahead, the J22 Bullet was struggling a bit, too close to the Eastlake shore. The wind gods smiled and Full Moon enjoyed a favorable shift right to the buoy and moved up to 7th. One leg to go!

With the course to the finish a bit iffy for the spinnaker, Full Moon made the right call and stayed with the genoa, easily holding onto 7th for the best finish of the summer! With some cold beer and a nearly cloudless sky, it was a great evening on the water.

Summer At Last!

Michael, John, and Daniel

John catches flies while Eileen trims the jib.

Are those 80s vintage sunglasses?

Caroline basks in the sun.

Full Moon crew Art “Headband” Teller, Michael “Pole Dancer” Medina, Eileen “Cookies” McHugh, Caroline “Silver Jacket” Sneed, Daniel “Tab” Mengedoht, and skipper John “Meds” Mengedoht were lacking a good mullet but otherwise in fine shape for the 80s Night Duck Dodge. With sunny skies, warm temperatures (finally!), and a nice northerly, Full Moon enjoyed a rare good start and made good speed to the “Freeway” buoy, rounding ahead of Runner, Tenacious, and Perfectly Strange.


Heading for the “Aurora” buoy on a tight reach, Runner slowly crept past but Tenacious could not quite catch up. Full Moon did well under the mighty Equalizer spinnaker and continued to hold off Tenacious downwind. Perfectly Strange did better sailing tighter wind angles, though, and managed to get by. After rounding the AGC and Chandler’s buoys, Tenacious also finally made it by upwind, leaving Full Moon to battle for the second lap with a quick red Santana 20 and a blue T-bird, the rest of the fleet having fallen well behind.

Both boats challenged Full Moon at times but, in the end, Full Moon easily held off the Santana and beat the T-bird to the finish to place an excellent eleventh. Fortis and Shogun were never close, finishing well behind.

Trouble With T-Birds!

Beware the white T-Bird to starboard!

Despite the bank of clouds, there was a nice sunset through the Aurora Bridge.

It was Red Wine, White Wine and the Blues Night at the Duck Dodge this week and Full Moon crew Art “Silverback” Teller, Michael “Mike-ronesia” Medina, Tammy “The Onion” Cross, Don “iPhone” Caffrey, and skipper John “Boat Policy” Mengedoht did their best to dress for the theme. The wind was decent but the starting line was extremely crowded, slowing everybody down. Full Moon was in the middle of a tight group when a white T-bird came flying up from behind with no space to fit into (though they could easily have turned aside). All hands joined in fending off, barely averting the crunching of fiberglass and plywood.

As the fleet slowly spread out upwind, Full Moon was able to make a straight shot to the AGC buoy. Boats rounding the mark were returning on a reciprocal course, though being on port tack they had to yield to boats still approaching the buoy on starboard tack. A black T-bird heading for the buoy was caught in the traffic and without warning changed course directly in front of a J-22, resulting in a loud bang and both boats heading directly for Full Moon’s port side. Quick maneuvering prevented further catastrophe but Full Moon stayed well away from T-birds for the rest of the race!

The wind increased a bit on the legs to the “Freeway” and “Aurora” buoys and old rival Shogun managed to exploit the shifts and catch Full Moon. This resulted in a great battle under spinnaker with the usual banter between boats. Returning upwind to start the second lap, though, Full Moon took off and left Shogun behind for good.

The rest of the race was spent trading places with the J-22 Rawhide. In the end, Full Moon edged out Rawhide under spinnaker for the downwind finish to take 12th out of some 30 boats. As always, a good time was had by all.

Summer is Here!

Laurel focuses on the competition.

Shogun swings by after the race. Skipper Rick Ranta works for Frank!

Laurel “Fast Learner” Swol and Frank “Rick’s Boss” Lockhart joined Full Moon crew Randy “Bushed” Olsen, Ian “Chip N' Dip” Mengedoht, Daniel “Coke Zero” Mengedoht and skipper John “30 Degrees” Mengedoht for Duck Dodge No. 6.  Sunny skies and a decent northerly on the first race of summer motivated the race committee to call for a long 2 ½ lap race. Unfortunately, pre-start maneuvers were a bit shocking as the J-109 Tantivy tangled with another fairly large boat, causing damage to both. Fortunately, there did not appear to be any injuries.

Full Moon was a bit tardy to the starting line but still managed to force Fortis into an unplanned tack that left them wallowing with no speed. Old rival Shogun was ahead, though, with a better start and the hunt was on. Full Moon gained a bit upwind, then a good bit more downwind under spinnaker, and then passed Shogun for good on the long upwind leg from the “Challenger” buoy to the “Freeway” buoy, completing the first lap.

With good wind and faster boats ahead, Full Moon did not have much hope of catching anybody else so the rest of the race mostly came down to holding off the speedy J-22 Rawhide and a well-sailed Santana 20, which was running light with a small crew and no outboard. Rawhide did eventually manage to get by but the Santana didn’t have the upwind chops and Full Moon finished a decent 12th out of roughly 30 boats. Shogun and Fortis finished well behind, as did all of the Thunderbirds, which is always nice!

Wet Pirates!

Pirates, Ho!

Visible close by are Runner, Katrinka Finkelsplat, and Scat

After missing three weeks due to skipper conflicts (supporting son Ian with the Roosevelt Jazz Band), Full Moon returned to racing for the Pirate Night Duck Dodge. Crew Michael “Aahhhrrr!” Medina, Doug “Wet Seaman” Schoemaker, Eileen “Undampened” McHugh, Don “Bootymonger” Caffrey, and skipper John “Spongepants” Mengedoht had a decent start in a mild northwesterly wind, striving to get onto port tack as soon as possible to head toward the “Freeway” buoy. Pinching off a pesky J24, Full Moon rounded the first mark in the good company of Scat and Perfectly Strange and within the top ten boats.

The “Aurora” buoy proved troublesome with extremely light wind – and that light wind was itself very shifty. Full Moon managed to keep up with the fast boats, including Dreams, Runner, and a J27, and then launched the Equalizer for what proved to be a very close reach to the AGC buoy.

Returning upwind for the second lap, Full Moon again held her own with supposedly faster boats and, somewhere near Gasworks, managed to pass Runner and move up into 8th place. Full Moon then briefly caught Dreams as Dreams stalled with no steerage right at the Aurora buoy. Unfortunately, Dreams moved back out ahead and Runner eventually worked back on by – but not before asking if Full Moon perhaps had new sails! (The sails are 10 years old…)

Meanwhile, it had started raining, catching a few of us unprepared as it had been sunny at the race start. Enduring light winds and constant rain, the crew was not excited about hoisting the spinnaker one last time for the reach to the finish line. This allowed a couple of boats to ooze by and Full Moon ended up a still-respectable 11th out of 25-30 boats and still a good margin ahead of Perfectly Strange. Shogun and Fortis were never a threat and finished well behind.

Invisible Buoys

Randy, Galina & "Cap'n John"

Art, a self-portrait

Michael, enjoying the sun

Full Moon returned to racing Tuesday with the first Duck Dodge of the year. Crew Randy “Smooth-Drop” Olsen, Art “Pole Up” Teller, Michael “Telltales” Medina, Galina “Rookie” Gordeeva, and skipper John “Not That I Can See” Mengedoht had a great start, actually flirting with being over early. Being overpowered in gusty wind made for a fun, if not especially efficient, upwind leg and a last-second double tack to make the AGC buoy allowed old rival Shogun to slip by with Fortis hot on our heels.

The second leg was a beam reach and Full Moon stuck with a jib in the strong breeze while Fortis tried to gain under spinnaker. The next buoy, however, was nowhere to be seen so boats just went to where a buoy usually would be and made the turn northward. After a jibe at the turn, Full Moon launched the infamous Equalizer spinnaker, left Fortis well behind, and began to make gains on Shogun.

After a smooth spinnaker douse at the “Freeway” buoy, things were looking good until a mainsheet block parted ways with the traveler car! Somehow Full Moon maintained approximately the right course while the boom was held down by hand and repairs were made, though there was no chance to make any gains on Shogun. Rounding the “Aurora” buoy, though, the length of the lake awaited for an upwind slog and Full Moon had her chance to catch and pass our oldest rival.

The second lap was very similar to the first except that Full Moon held position and didn’t break anything! Heading to the finish, yet another buoy had disappeared so Full Moon steered close to the Committee Boat to ensure being noticed crossing the “line.” Full Moon ended up a very respectable eighth, just behind the Thunderbird Selchie, Scat, and Runner. Shogun held on for ninth and Fortis was back around sixteenth, over a leg behind.

Sunny Finale

Pre-start maneuvers. Michael Medina photo.

Battling Runner to the finish line. Michael Medina photo

Full Moon crew Randy Olsen, Art Teller, Michael Medina, Daniel “Dread Pirate” Mengedoht and skipper John Mengedoht tried a port-tack start for the final Goosebump race, which paid off with clear air once past the line, though several bigger boats were already ahead and pulling away. With light winds and a two lap race called for, it looked like a long afternoon was in store but the sun was out and a long afternoon sounded just fine.

As usual, Full Moon pulled out ahead of traditional rivals Fortis and Shogun (Ignitor didn’t race this series). Not so usual was a close race with speedy Runner. Full Moon would pop out ahead and Runner would return the favor. At the final buoy, Full Moon was just barely ahead but clever Runner swung wide around the buoy and into a controlling position for the broad reach to the finish line. With Runner taking Full Moon’s wind, all we could do was sail a lower angle with the mighty Equalizer spinnaker and try to gain some separation. This worked but, unfortunately, not in time to regain the lead so Runner crossed the line about 30 feet ahead.

Full Moon continued to sail around Lake Union for quite awhile after the race enjoying the rare cloudless sky and relatively warm temperatures, not to mention a few cold beers. With weather like this, can summer be far away?

Another Great Start...

Just like a cell phone advertisment - count the bars! (Art Teller photo)

It's hard to keep the boat balanced in such strong wind... (Art Teller photo)

Full Moon crew Randy “Halyards” Olsen, Art “Jamaican” Teller, Michael “Cheap Drunk” Medina, Daniel “The Quiet One” Medina, and skipper John “Big Enough” Mengedoht were well positioned for the start of Goosebump Race No. 5 until a wave of much larger boats essentially shut down the wind. Once the monsters were past, Full Moon recovered and had a good first leg upwind to the AGC buoy, picking off Shogun and several other boats which had been smart enough to avoid the big dogs (but not fast enough to hold off Full Moon!).

Full Moon maintained good speed on the reach to the Cove buoy, pulling farther ahead of boats behind, though only passing two boats and not really gaining on the leaders. Rounding the buoy, the giant Equalizer spinnaker rose to the occasion and Full Moon began to reel in 42 foot Yankee III, Tenacious, and a speedy dinghy, all sailing a “hotter” angle toward the middle of the lake but into weaker wind. As all three jibed back toward the Freeway buoy, Full Moon had pulled in front by some 75 yards and into 7th place!

Heading on a tight reach to the Aurora buoy, Yankee III and Tenacious began to gain slowly and it was unclear if Full Moon could remain ahead all the way around and to the finish line upwind. It was painful to watch and Full Moon used every scrap of wind but the bigger boats had their way, along with the pesky dinghy, using the light wind to its advantage and relegating Full Moon to a still-good 10th place finish. Shogun had managed to come on strong to take 11th but Fortis was a long way back, finishing some ten minutes later.

Superbowl Comeback!

Full Moon was caught behind a wall of boats in light wind at the starting line for the Superbowl Sunday Goosebump race and, when the fleet began to spread out, Full Moon was nearly last! A few strategic tacks to slightly breezier spots helped as crew Caroline "The Model" Sneed, Sara "Politically Incorrect" Skinner, Chuck "In The Pocket" Weldy, and skipper John "Slow Learner" Mengedoht began a slow crawl toward respectability.

At the end of the first leg, Full Moon had caught and passed old rival Shogun and a few other laggards. Rounding the AGC buoy, Full Moon jibed and then hoisted the giant Equalizer and squeezed past a few more boats. The leg from the Cove buoy to the Freeway buoy was a long and fairly tight reach but Full Moon kept the Equalizer in play and quickly picked off Fortis, another boat or two, and, very nearly, a J33!

The J33 surged back ahead, though (they should!), and the final leg was a slow upwind drag race to a 14th place finish out of more than 25 boats. This doesn't sound all that fabulous but there were a couple of T-birds and all of our old rivals in our wake plus there was no rain!

Wind!

Art working hard in the pre-start...

Eileen enjoys multiple warm layers.

Randy says: Does this make it look like we're heeled over?

Though the skies were pewter gray, no rain fell and there was measurable wind for the third Goosebump race. Full Moon crew Randy “Long & Thick” Olsen, Art “Halyard” Teller, Eileen “Warm” McHugh, and skipper John “Puffs” Mengedoht had a decent second-row start, tacked for clear air, and made it to the first AGC buoy in 11th place. With a short beam reach to the Cove buoy, the Equalizer stayed in the bag until the 3rd leg up the Eastlake shore where it helped Full Moon gain on a red Thunderbird and always-fast Runner.

Runner had problems with their spinnaker drop at the Freeway buoy and Full Moon rounded ahead, nearly catching the T-bird and the big Buchan 37 Distance. Returning upwind to complete the first lap, Distance had pulled out ahead and Runner caught up but the T-bird suffered in lighter air near the western shore and Full Moon got by. Always nice to pass a T-bird!

Full Moon held position to start the second lap but the spinnaker hoist went awry with the head trapped under the top of the forestay. The Equalizer still filled and pulled the boat but with reduced area. This allowed the red T-bird to slowly work on by. The wind began to decrease at this point but was still blowing and the remainder of the race was a battle with the T-bird which, unfortunately, finished just a few feet ahead to leave Full Moon a still-respectable 10th. The rest of the fleet was left to suffer with fading wind, old rivals Fortis and Shogun a full half lap down on Full Moon.

Shiver Me Timbers!

Goosebump Race No. 2 continued the trend of extremely light wind with the added bonus of rain and colder temperatures. Full Moon crew Sara “Energy Conservation” Skinner, Randy “Boy Toys” Olsen, Art “It Will Kill You!” Teller, and skipper John “Shivering” Mengedoht tried to anticipate the best wind for the start and at first were doing relatively well near the middle of the lake. Unfortunately, progress was painfully slow, moving maybe 100 yards in the first fifteen minutes. The “wind” then grew slightly stronger toward the Westlake shore and Full Moon fell back toward the middle of the fleet.

After rounding the “AGC” and “Cove” buoys, Full Moon found an advantage toward the middle of the lake and made up some ground but the racing remained painfully slow and it took seemly forever to round the “Freeway” buoy. After crawling past Gasworks Park, Full Moon finally rounded the “Aurora” buoy but it appeared hopeless to reach the finish line within the two hour time limit.

A few boats attempted to fly spinnakers on the final leg but they mostly hung limp and Full Moon did better with the genoa, passing several boats and nearly catching Runner. Finally, just before the time limit, the Committee Boat hoisted anchor and began motoring toward the remaining racers, scoring each “finish” with a toot of the horn as they passed. The Full Moon crew gratefully fired up the outboard and headed for the dock.

I’ve no idea how we finished, if we were even scored (several boats did make it to the line before the time limit), but Full Moon was once again ahead of old rival Fortis. Ignitor and Shogun have not appeared for the first two races.

Slow Boat to Gasworks

The first Goosebump Race of 2010 began with extremely light wind. Full Moon crew Randy “Nice Ripples” Olsen, Debra “Winch Wench” Ricard, Michael “Sticky Pants” Medina, Chuck “Rusty” Weldy, and skipper John “Patience” Mengedoht were positioned for the start in the only area with any wind but most other boats were in the same area and it took a while to get moving.

The first “Cove” buoy was nearly a parking lot but Full Moon got a little push of wind to get around inside a cluster of other boats. This move forced Full Moon toward the center of the lake, though, while the breeze remained strongest near the Eastlake shore. Old rival Fortis stayed in the weak breeze and steadily pulled ahead, though Full Moon stayed ahead of a Thunderbird by eventually tacking toward the beach.

Rounding the “Freeway” buoy, it was easy to see many of the lead boats becalmed near the “Aurora” buoy. Full Moon carefully worked every hint of wind and soon caught several boats, including Fortis and the big Buchan 37 Dreamscape, finally rounding the buoy ahead of them both.

The next long leg was anywhere from a beam reach to a run as the fickle wind came and went. The mighty Equalizer was hoisted in hopes that its generous sail area would help a little. After many minutes with limp nylon, a breeze filled in up high, not touching the water to disturb the glassy surface, and Full Moon surged ahead at a whopping two knots. This was enough to get past several boats, including Perfectly Strange, and bring Full Moon up even with speedy Runner!

At the final “AGC” buoy, Runner went wide and Full Moon easily turned inside but then Runner tightened their line and slowly oozed ahead. Full Moon then tacked for better wind to the east. This gamble nearly succeeded as Full Moon almost caught Runner, but Perfectly Strange almost got by in the process. In the end Full Moon was a decent 13th, barely ahead of Perfectly Strange and quite a number of places ahead of Fortis.

Rock the Boat!

Martini Night crew, minus Suzan, who took the picture.
Is anybody moving?

The final Duck Dodge of summer is always Martini Night aboard Full Moon and so it was this week. Crew Randy “Big Pour” Olsen, Art “Moballast” Teller, Grace “OJ Plus” Teller, Michael “Lounge Lizard” Medina, Eileen “Taste of Honey” McHugh, Suzan “No Protection” Schneider, and skipper John “Visualize Vermouth” Mengedoht were pleased that rain held off but dismayed to see nary a ripple of wind on the water.

All three starts began with the fleet parked on the starting line and soon a variety of methods of cheating were displayed as it became apparent that finishing the short course before dark would be unlikely if relying on legal means of propulsion. Full Moon and several other boats employed the time tested sculling of the rudder and then the more obvious rocking the boat from side to side to create some momentum while some others resorted to using their motors. The most entertaining cheating was employed by Mata Hari, who hoisted their spinnaker and then motored around the course backward to provide a full sail, roughly the sailing equivalent of moon walking.

Full Moon actually did manage to sail around the course after the initial bit of cheating, though at speeds that never topped one knot. Our “finish” was, of course, not legal and not counted. Of much more importance were pouring drinks and serving up appetizers to celebrate the end of the season.

It was a great summer and great fun was had by all. Full Moon may do the Rum Run on October 17 but otherwise won’t return to racing until the Goosebumps in mid-January so it’s back to cruising for awhile.

Fading Light

Full Moon crew Randy “Halyards” Olsen, Art “Smooth Jibe” Teller, Grace “Freshman” Teller, Chuck “Hercules” Weldy, and skipper John “No Doughnut” Mengedoht hit the starting line at full speed and right at the horn for the next to last Duck Dodge. Unfortunately, this was near the disadvantaged end of the line but the location did provide clear “air” and Full Moon was, for a short while at least, in second place. A collision at the AGC buoy between a dark blue Thunderbird and 36-foot Mata Hari created a large knot of boats which forced Full Moon to the outside for a painful rounding but prompt hoisting of the mighty Equalizer spinnaker offset most of the loss.

A smooth jibe at the Challenger buoy led to a long run up the lake with Full Moon holding even with nearby boats, though all the traditional rivals were already well behind. The second lap was similar to the first, apart from Mata Hari developing a nasty twist in their huge asymmetrical spinnaker during a jibe, perhaps a bit of karma for hitting the Thunderbird.

Starting the final leg upwind, Full Moon was tenth, just behind two blue T-birds. Holding to the middle of the lake brought a bit stronger breeze and some favorable shifts to push Full Moon ahead but then the trend reversed and the dratted Birds crossed just ahead. However, it was quite nice to finish ahead of Mata Hari, Tenacious, assorted J22s and J24s and at least half a lap ahead of old rivals Ignitor, Fortis, and Shogun.