Disco Duck

Prom Queens 1 and A. Ian needs more bling.

Daniel can't normally get away with this.

Hiking hard on Cinc-O-Sink. These guys are fast!

Ian secures the Gold Duck from the Race Committee.

It was Prom Night on the lake and the mini mirror ball was spinning aboard Full Moon, though the wind was next to nonexistent at the start. Crew Michael “Señor” Medina, Tammy “Prom Queen 1” Cross, Marcelle “Prom Queen A” Lynde, Ian “Muppet-Man” Mengedoht, Daniel “Cabin Niño” Mengedoht, and skipper John “Captain Disco” Mengedoht patiently kept the boat moving until the wind began to fill in from the northwest. Fortunately, Full Moon was positioned fairly well for the new breeze with all of the third start fleet either behind or off to the east. This allowed Full Moon to take a solid lead while also passing a substantial number of second start boats, many of which had been essentially parked for their start.

Rounding the Freeway buoy, Full Moon headed toward Gasworks for clear air and then tacked to the west, passing a few more second start boats. The mighty Equalizer was prepped for launch and hoisted shortly after rounding the Aurora buoy. After passing even more second start boats, Full Moon was joined by our friends on the 505 dinghy Cinc-O-Sink for the rest of the long southbound leg.

With a clean drop of the spinnaker (way to go, Tammy!), Full Moon was off on the final upwind leg to the finish, still in the fine company of Cinc-O-Sink. Cinc-O-Sink took the horn for first place in fourth start and Full Moon the same for third start for yet another Gold Duck. Sushi (Santana 20) scored second place after a few minutes, followed shortly by True Blue (Ranger 22) for the bronze.

Duckless in Seattle

Doug captures the racing action from his usual perch.

Hot Tub Boats. What else do I need to say?

New instrument provides accurate depth, speed, and even water temperature!

Full Moon crew Randy “Conspiracy Theory” Olsen, Michael “Hot Tub Envy” Medina, Doug “Slippery Step” Schoemaker, Martha “Real Cheese” Schoemaker, Daniel “Righty Tighty” Mengedoht, and skipper John “Unaccountably Slow” Mengedoht hit the start right at the gun for the Coast Guard Night Duck Dodge, another excellent start. Heading upwind to the Freeway buoy, Full Moon felt a little slow in the light and shifty breeze and, sure enough, speedy Sushi (Santana 20) and very competitive Deception (Catalina 27) managed to get by.

Heading for the Aurora buoy, Full Moon seemed more her normal self and passed a number of second start boats while easily holding off the Ranger 22s Anakena and True Blue. Trouble with a twisted pole delayed the launch of the mighty Equalizer on the downwind run but, once it was up, Full Moon began reeling in Deception. Unfortunately, Full Moon was squeezed between a large second start boat to leeward and Deception to windward and was unable to make the pass, though it was fun to pass the big Buchan 37 Dreamscape (from second start) just before rounding the AGC buoy.

On the final upwind leg, Deception was uncatchable. Sushi was, we believe, first, a big blue boat (looked to be a 35’ racer/cruiser) may have been second, Deception third, and Full Moon fourth, the first race this year without a prized vinyl duck sticker! There was no crying in our cold beer, though – it was a great sunny evening on the water, the new instruments worked beautifully, and we were definitely competitive with our fellow third start boats, not to mention passing the back third of the second start fleet. 

Long John Silver

Ahhrrr, mateys, we've got the silver!

Full Moon crew Randy “Twisted Pole” Olsen, Don “Too Much Moderation” Caffrey, Dave “Alzheimer Donuts” Pulsifer, Angie “Shoulda Been Gold” Tomisser, Daniel “Chernobyl Cherry Coke” Mengedoht, and skipper John “Long John” Mengedoht dodged a boat foolishly trying to motor through the start while hoisting sails and absolutely nailed the start for the Pirate Night Duck Dodge. Cranking along upwind in a decent breeze, Full Moon held off the usual competition of Sushi (Santana 20), Anakena (Ranger 22), and True Blue (another Ranger 22) to the Challenger buoy at the Southeast corner of Lake Union. Once around, it took a minute or two to launch the mighty Equalizer spinnaker but it served well to hold off all challengers all the way to the Freeway buoy.

Heading back upwind in a decent breeze, lightly loaded Sushi began to make gains on Full Moon with True Blue not far behind. Sushi eventually got past but Full Moon kept close while continuing to stay ahead of True Blue.

Rounding the AGC buoy, the Equalizer was launched once again. It wasn’t quite enough to catch Sushi but Full Moon cruised to a relatively easy second place and the coveted Silver Duck. True Blue caught the Bronze a few minutes later.

After the finish, another third start boat cruised by and complained that Full Moon, with her “racing sails,” belongs in second start with the “racing” boats. Lest anyone think Full Moon has anything exotic in her sail inventory, the main and genoa are fully 12 years old and, while not made in the classic woven white, are still just made of good old Dacron. The mighty Equalizer is even older, having been purchased used in 2001!

Regardless, I would readily agree with the complaint if it weren’t for boats like J29s (Salsa), Olson 30s (Chaos) and J80s (Heart Attack, Crazy Ivan) continuing to race in second start. It was the Race Committee who suggested Full Moon switch to third start last summer. I agreed to switch, largely because the definition of a “half-fast” boat seems to have changed. I may yet switch back, though – being in the top three for five weeks in a row is great fun but it is also fun to race for two laps instead of one and to take on Thunderbirds and Ranger 26s and J22s – our more natural prey!

Damp Duck

Daniel grabs the vinyl trophy from the Race Committee.

Kristen likes this stuff!

Daniel is happy to have layers and a good rain jacket.

Cougar colors dominated under the rain gear aboard Full Moon for the Team Spirit Duck Dodge. Crew Art “Pretzels” Teller, Debra “Double Jibe” Ricard, Tammy “Snug Gloves” Cross, Kristen “Shake It!” Bakken, Daniel “Trophy Boy” Mengedoht, and skipper John “Accidental Jibe” Mengedoht enjoyed a good start in light winds, about 4^th or 5^th across the line, and were soon mixing it up with the Ranger 22 Anakena and the Catalina 27 Deception for the lead, with the Santana 20 Hot Cookies not far behind. The second start boats must have had even lighter wind as Full Moon caught a quite a few before reaching the Freeway buoy.

After rounding, the mighty Equalizer was launched but the wind became extremely shifty and still very light, causing a few unplanned jibes. Still, Full Moon kept moving down the course and soon was in the lead by a good margin, passing still more second start boats such as Zephyr and the giant Bolero (Choate 40) as the wind filled in a bit. The spinnaker came down cleanly at the AGC buoy and, while Bolero threatened with an overlap to windward for awhile, Full Moon eventually pulled out ahead again and then tacked in front of the Olson 30 Chaos, yet another second start boat!

Rounding the Chandler’s Cove buoy, the course to the finish was a straightforward close reach and Full Moon cruised easily to the line for yet another Gold Duck! Anakena was second and Deception a close third, though both boats were a long way behind speedy Full Moon. Despite the rain, the cold beer tasted pretty fine. Good times!

Ducked Again!

Daniel scores the prize from the Committee Boat.

Yet another duck joins the flock.

Fading wind made positioning for the start of the “70s Night” Duck Dodge a little trickier than normal but Full Moon crew Art “Humushoe” Teller, Tammy “Wind Whisperer” Cross, Robert “New Again” Leykam, Daniel “i-Pod” Mengedoht, and skipper John “Induced Heel” Mengedoht managed to be more or less in the front row of boats. Joining Full Moon in third start was old rival Shogun. Full Moon initially pulled away from Shogun but as the wind began dying, they found a better path and pulled back in front. Meanwhile, the Santana 20 Sushi had picked up a decent bit of breeze by the Westlake shore and took over the lead before stalling out near the AGC buoy.

Converging boats and boats trying to escape the buoy area under spinnaker made for a morass of barely moving hulls. Full Moon eventually made it around and launched the mighty Equalizer. As the wind had clocked around a bit, the course was much closer to the wind than ideal for a symmetrical spinnaker but the greater sail area was worth the bargain in the very light breeze. Full Moon soon passed Shogun again plus a few others, including some from second start. At this point, it was hard to know exactly what position we were in other than being very far behind Sushi!

After passing a few more boats, Full Moon engaged in a slow-motion battle with a well-sailed Cal 30, rounding the Freeway buoy not far behind them. As the Aurora buoy had been placed about as far northwest as possible, the leg past Gasworks was agonizingly slow, though there was some comic relief from a conversation with a person aboard the Buchan 37 Distance (see the previous post).

Full Moon did get by the Cal before rounding the buoy and then set the Equalizer once again for what was now a downwind reach and run to the finish, still in extremely light breeze. Full Moon managed to pass the San Juan 28 Zephyr from second start and continued to battle the Cal 30, finally pulling ahead for good just yards from the finish line. Nearly two hours after the start, Full Moon finally oozed past the Committee Boat to find that we had managed to pull off third place and the Bronze Duck!

Distance vs. Mata Hari?

It seems more people read this blog than just the Full Moon crew, though apparently not all are happy campers! During the Duck Dodge this week, one of the Distance crew hailed your faithful scribe to express some displeasure with a posting from back in 2009.

I confess I don't have perfect recall of the incident described in my post but Distance and Mata Hari had a side-to-side collision right at the finish line with Distance also hitting the finish line buoy. I implied that Distance was at fault for the collision. I'm reasonably sure both boats were on starboard tack with Distance to leeward, which would mean Distance had right of way and that Mata Hari should have yielded, assuming they had room to turn away. (Score one point for Distance).

However, rules 3, 5, 7, 9, and 11 for the Duck Dodge also clearly and repeatedly state "No hitting one-another!" If Distance was sailing to leeward, they would have had the best opportunity to avoid a collision. Thus, I still feel pretty solid about laying some blame on Distance. (Score one point or more for Mata Hari.) There may be more to the story, of course, but from my vantage point, I simply called it the way I saw it. In my book, failure to avoid a collision is worse than failing to yield right of way.

Meanwhile, an attentive reader will notice a little symbol at the end of each posting with some text which typically says “0 comments” right next to it. Clicking the symbol or the text opens a dialog box to add a comment about the posting. I filter all comments before they can show up in the blog so as to avoid all kinds of potential troubles but I welcome any reader to make a comment, especially if they feel wronged by anything I’ve written. If the comment favors the profound over the profane, I will publish it. And if I’ve made a mistake (certainly always possible!), I’ll revise my posting accordingly.

Two for Two!

Daniel, Randy, John, Eileen, and Max enjoy a brief bit of sun.

Daniel shows off the golden prize, along with his new rain gear.

It wasn’t quite so easy this time. On a gray evening with occasional showers and shifty breeze, Full Moon crew Randy “Mini-finger” Olsen, Michael “Almost Wet” Medina, Eileen “Guinness” McHugh, Max “Quick Study” Foley, Daniel “Barking Spider” Mengedoht, and skipper John “Hat Trick” Mengedoht nailed the start near the middle of the line but boats closer to the Committee Boat had a slight advantage. Full Moon was rolled by the Catalina 27 Deception and then mixed it up with Columbia 26 Tuesday, and Ranger 22s Anakena and True Blue through a number of tacks, ending up rounding the AGC buoy in fourth place.

After a short pause to raise the pole, the mighty Equalizer was launched in a building wind. All but Tuesday were soon left behind as the magic nylon pushed Full Moon to hull speed in the puffs. Old rival Fortis and a few others from second start were also passed. Eventually Tuesday also succumbed, only to catch back up as Full Moon dropped the Equalizer a bit early to prepare for a smooth jibe around the Freeway buoy. Tuesday kept their spinnaker up to the last second to poke their bow inside but then had trouble with their jib after the take-down and Full Moon was gone, gone, gone!

Reaching across to the Aurora buoy, Tuesday slowly faded back and no other challengers appeared. Heading back upwind to the finish line, Full Moon pulled even farther ahead to claim the prized Gold Duck by several minutes! Tuesday was second, followed by True Blue for the Bronze Duck.

And so it was two Golds in two tries, or three Golds in a row if you count the Duck Dodge Rum Run last October. If this run continues, the Race Committee may reconsider inviting Full Moon to third start!

Golden Glow

Daniel, Marcelle, Michael, and John zipping along upwind to the Freeway buoy.

"Loose Ends" gives Dad a big hug while holding the coveted Gold Duck!

Last June, the Duck Dodge Race Committee invited Full Moon to switch from second start (“half-fast boats”), where she had raced for many years, to third start (“cruising and slower boats”). This was a tough choice on many fronts, including no longer competing with old rivals, worrying about having an unfair advantage over some truly “slower boats,” and suffering from the image challenge of being classed as a slower boat. Ouch! However, the Committee has been allowing more and more really fast boats into second start, rendering Full Moon essentially uncompetitive. Third start was chosen and Full Moon managed to collect two third-place finishes over the summer and a first in the Rum Run.

And so it was, on yet another gorgeous May evening, that Full Moon crew Randy “Grad Dad” Olsen, Michael “Zeta-Jones” Medina, Marcelle “Overboard” Lynde, Chuck “Zip-Grip” Weldy, Daniel “Loose Ends” Mengedoht, and skipper John “High Gloss” Mengedoht lined up for third start for the first Duck Dodge of 2012. Starting on port tack, Full Moon had to dodge the Merit 25 Incognito coming across on starboard but still managed to be the third boat across the line for an unusually good start (for us). With a good lane and clear air, Full Moon pulled ahead of Incognito to take over first place half way to the Freeway buoy, also overtaking Fortis from second start in the process.

Rounding the Freeway buoy and heading past Gasworks to the Aurora buoy, Full Moon passed still more second starters, including Shogun, Distance and, amazingly, Runner! Heading back south on the long run under spinnaker featured some big wind shifts, necessitating some quick (and somewhat messy) jibes for the mighty Equalizer. Distance caught back up (it is, after all, a 37-footer!) but had issues with their take-down and Full Moon zipped by again just after rounding the AGC buoy.

The final upwind leg to the finish saw no boats threatening from behind and Full Moon cruised on to easily score the coveted gold duck! Was it the fresh bottom paint? Was it the shiny new graphics on the freshly polished topsides? More likely, it was a good start, followed by solid sailing from a veteran, if slightly rusty crew! Regardless, it was great fun and wonderful to be back racing again.

New Vinyl

With new bottom paint and some polish on the hull, the ancient peeling graphics had to go! The new vinyl letters were applied last weekend and are a close match to the originals. Lookin' good, Full Moon!

Splashdown!

On the lift, heading back to the water!

Full Moon returned to the water yesterday afternoon with two new coats of blue bottom paint, a new transducer for the knotmeter/depthsounder, and freshly polished topsides (hull above waterline). The new instrumentation won't be complete until I can infill the bigger hole from the old knotmeter display and install the new one but that's coming soon. Meanwhile, the teak is nearly done with new varnish and I've cut the plywood for a new hatch board - Full Moon will be lookin' good for the first Duck Dodge next Tuesday!

Hauled Out!

Full Moon hangs in the slings, freshly out of her native element.

The old bottom paint was worn through from all the scrubbing over the years.

New electronics are coming soon!

Full Moon was hauled out this morning at the Canal Boatyard for the first time in... a lot of years. She will receive two coats of bottom paint (applied with rollers, unfortunately) plus a spiffy new depth and speed transducer ("smart sensor") for a new Furuno FI-504 display. Since the old instruments are vintage 1978, they don't work reliably and it will be nice to know how fast (or slow) we're really going, not to mention having more than a vague idea of the depth!

Scrub-a-dub!

Tammy wields the toothbrush to get ALL the gunk off!
Not sure why Blogger won't import this photo with
the correct orientation - sorry!

Wax on, wax off...

Post-scrubbing cruise to celebrate a job well done!

Many thanks to Randy “Brown” Olsen, Michael “Green” Medina, Tammy “Toothbrush” Cross, and Daniel “Dinghy” Mengedoht for helping scrub and wax Full Moon on Saturday. The boat looks great – and will look even better after the haul-out this week.

Close Cover!

Tammy enjoys a brief bit of sun.

Daniel bundles up while Dad enjoys the nice breeze.

The Olson is coming!

The final Goosebump race fittingly offered a good breeze and cool temperatures but no rain. Full Moon crew Randy “Dry Buns” Olsen, Michael “Wet Pack” Medina, Tammy “Wrapped Up” Cross, Chuck “The Road” Weldy, Daniel “Hangin’ On” Mengedoht, and skipper John “Stayin’ Alive” Mengedoht lined up for a decent starboard tack start near the Committee Boat but a large pack of boats barged in from the right and Full Moon bailed out to leeward to avoid collisions. A good part of the first leg was then a quest for clear air, though Full Moon did manage to pass a few boats.

After a short reach to the Cove buoy, the mighty Equalizer was launched to good effect to get past a few more. The takedown was a bit messy to round the Freeway buoy but it didn’t cause any loss of speed, other than a spinnaker sheet dragging through the water for awhile. The leg to the Aurora buoy was nearly close-hauled and then it was time to head south to complete the first lap.

Rounding the AGC buoy, the Ranger 26 Runner was not far ahead and, while they had launched their spinnaker for this leg, Full Moon gained under genoa and actually caught up at the Cove buoy. Runner had some challenges with their jibe and Full Moon was able to get out ahead once the Equalizer was launched. Since the Equalizer was originally made for a Ranger 26, the boats were pretty evenly matched on the run/reach to the Freeway buoy.

Despite a little shrimping on the takedown, Full Moon maintained the lead on Runner on the leg to the Aurora buoy but an Olson 30 also joined the hunt. Full Moon would have a tough time holding off both boats to the finish! Full Moon tacked right at the buoy, Runner delayed her tack, and the Olson tacked just to windward of Full Moon’s line. With Full Moon on a good course for the line, Runner’s delayed tack cost them some critical distance but the Olson was soon nipping at Full Moon’s transom. However, Full Moon was able to point just high enough to keep the Olson in dirty air and, try as they might, they could not gain any further. Amazingly, Full Moon even made some gains in the puffs on the speedy 30 footer. In the end, Full Moon was eighth, tying our best finish for the series.

Full Moon ended up placing an excellent sixth overall in the Goosebump series while our good friends on The Black Knight took first. Way to go, Black Knight!

No Rain, Big Gains

The boys are ready for action!

Keeping most of the blue boats behind.

The Race Committee called for two full laps of Lake Union for Goosebump Race No. 5, which looked a bit much as the wind faded at the start. Full Moon crew Art “Push” Teller, Michael “Pull” Medina, Tammy “Bonus?” Cross, Reilly “The Hood” Hearne, Daniel “Minor Injury” Mengedoht, and skipper John “Giant Jib” Mengedoht got a second-row start and struggled for awhile trying to get a clear lane to the AGC buoy. This resulted in temporarily being back in 25^th place, though that wouldn’t last long.

Once around the AGC buoy, the question was whether to hoist the spinnaker for the short run to the Cove buoy. In the end, the Equalizer went up - but just in time to gybe at the buoy. Unfortunately, the quick gybe went awry and a few boats got past while the nylon mess was sorted on the bow. Once up and flying, though, Full Moon returned the favor, making good speed on the close reach to the Freeway buoy.

On the leg to the Aurora buoy, many boats were forced to tack away from Gasworks but Full Moon somehow held a straight line, passing a few more boats. Approaching the buoy, Full Moon was pinned by a blue San Juan 24 until the San Juan finally tacked. It didn’t take long for Full Moon to pass them, though!

Heading back south along the Westlake shore, it became clear that the race was being finished after only one lap. How is it that Full Moon once again missed the course change?!? No matter, falling off onto a reach to the finish only made for more speed. In the end, Full Moon was about 15^th out of around 30 boats, a pretty good comeback. Meanwhile, the threatened rain held off and the hot buttered rums flowed from the magic thermos, fueled by The Kraken. Good stuff! 

Superbowl Driftathon

Rocketing across the start line...

That duck is definitely gaining on The Black Knight.

Michael and Marcelle battle the freezing temperatures.

Marcelle, Sara, and John in dramatic sailing action.

"Low Rider" captures "Cozy" Daniel with the shoe's eye view.

Goosebump Race No. 3 on Superbowl Sunday finally offered up some glorious sunshine but, by the 1:00 start time, the lake was glassy smooth with no tangible signs of wind. Full Moon crew Michael “Low Rider” Medina, Marcelle “Nose Dive” Lynde, Sara “Anchor Aweigh” Skinner, Chuck “Prepared” Weldy, Daniel “Cozy” Mengedoht, and skipper John “Full Batten” Mengedoht positioned the boat pointing more or less toward the AGC buoy and slowly drifted across the start line in company with the entire fleet. In a feat not likely to be repeated any time soon, Full Moon somehow managed to float past The Black Knight for a little while until TBK’s taller mast and sails grabbed a little more “breeze” to pull back ahead.

After nearly 20 minutes, boats closest to the Westlake shore started to move, including a blue T-bird, Dash 34, and a couple of J24s, though there still was no evidence of wind to be seen on the water. With Full Moon too far from the mysterious Westlake breeze, we had to settle for oozing past the boom-box-blasting, techno-beat-loving T-bird Poco Mas and very slowly following The Black Knight to the first buoy.

Staying to the right after rounding to avoid the oncoming traffic allowed room for Poco Mas to sneak inside so Full Moon had to ooze past the white T-bird for a second time. Then, as traffic got a bit thicker, it was necessary to squeeze between the oncoming boats, right of way being tough to apply when boats are barely moving.

After just clearing Distance’s anchor (thanks, Sara!), Full Moon “tacked” toward some breeze slowly filling in from the north. The boats which had received the Westlake boost were, by this time, already in the stronger wind and long gone but Full Moon persevered to hold off one San Juan 24 and to try and pass Orca, which was dead ahead.

Orca swung a little wide around the Freeway buoy and Full Moon soon was in striking distance. The close reach to the finish was exhilarating after all the painful drifting and Full Moon slowly pulled above and past Orca to score what appeared to be a “lucky thirteenth” out of some thirty boats. As it turns out, though, three boats in the Westlake group were over the starting line early – so upgrade that to “terrific tenth!”