Super Sunday!

Lake Union not long before the race start!

The wind was nearly nonexistent before the start of the Superbowl Sunday Goosebump race, just enough to move. Full Moon crew Randy “Triple Jibe” Olsen, Michael “No. 3” Medina, Eileen “Legion of Boom” McHugh, Daniel “Perfect Pack” Mengedoht, and skipper John “Low and Slow” Mengedoht set up for a port tack start near the “pin” end of the line, with excellent timing for once. Unfortunately, and inexplicably, there was no starting horn from the Committee Boat. Full Moon, Tipsy Gypsy, Nimble, Poco Mas and one or two others all crossed the line anyway only to turn around to restart as the horn sounded a full minute and half late! Fortunately, the wind had filled in enough to make this possible and Full Moon ended up in decent shape, briefly ahead of the fastest boats, though well behind speedy little Cinc-O-Sink, which had wisely chosen to stay back near the starting line.

Full Moon is too hard to see but is heading for the orange buoy for the start, just left of the Aurora Bridge. Glad the wind filled in a bit!

The line to the Freeway buoy was a straight shot on port tack for Full Moon, which rounded in fourth place not far ahead of Poco Mas, thanks partly to Distance allowing Full Moon to tack inside and round the mark. The line to the Aurora buoy then looked like a straight shot on starboard tack but the wind was clearly lighter near the buoy and Full Moon sailed a higher course to buy some room in case the wind shifted. Big but aptly-named Nimble and 33-foot Tipsy Gypsy easily slipped past on this leg (as they should) but the C&C 41 Surt had to work for it, finally getting by just before the buoy as all boats put in a couple of tacks to get around.

The Equalizer went up smoothly with the pole to starboard, anticipating a westerly shift moving south down the lake. Unfortunately, the wind did not cooperate and, after delaying far too long, Full Moon jibed the nylon monster and shifted the jib to the starboard side. Poco Mas and the Ranger 23 Blazing Zipper sailed smarter, jibing sooner and sailing higher angles for more speed in the light air. Surt, on the other hand delayed their jibe way too long, eventually losing the breeze altogether close to the Westlake shore. Naturally, the wind shifted back, and Full Moon jibed again, though the jib stayed in place in anticipation of yet another jibe. That final shift never came and, while Full Moon rounded the AGC buoy just ahead of Poco Mas and Blazing Zipper, the jib could not be hoisted until the spinnaker and pole were down.

Poco Mas and Blazing Zipper both pulled ahead just past the buoy and, halfway up the final leg, giant Surt came roaring by. In the end, while Full Moon gained back some distance on Blazing Zipper, Poco Mas was fifth, Surt sixth, Blazing Zipper seventh, and Full Moon eighth, not bad for being in the first start fleet. Cinc-O-Sink managed third, just ahead of Tipsy Gypsy. Meanwhile, partly by virtue of sailing in every race, Full Moon and Poco Mas are now in a tie for fifth place overall in the series, 4 points behind Cinc-O-Sink.

Yellow Goose?

The Goosebumps Race Committee elected to create two starts for Race 3. The goal is (apparently) to split the fleet into roughly equal halves but, for Race 3, boats were assigned starts roughly based on the break between first and second start in the Duck Dodge races. Other than Scat, which went in first start, Full Moon and her usual Duck Dodge competitors were all in second start.

Crew Randy “Twisted” Olsen, Marcelle “Careful” Lynde, Chuck “Big Dinghy” Weldy, Daniel “Sideways” Mengedoht, and skipper John “Patience” Mengedoht had a decent starboard tack start but boats starting on port at the pin (buoy) end of the line did better and Full Moon suffered in disturbed wind for much of the first leg. After rounding the Freeway buoy a couple of spots back from arch-rival Zephyr, Full Moon took a line closer to Gasworks Park. This paid off quite well and Full Moon rounded the Aurora buoy nearly in the lead.

Crusing fast downwind on the first lap toward the Aurora buoy.

The Equalizer went up smoothly and Full Moon took off down the lake, forging into the lead and pulling away from the fleet. With a clean drop at the AGC buoy, Full Moon enjoyed clear air for the long close reach back to the Freeway buoy, though the T-bird Poco Mas and Ranger 26 Runner gained a bit upwind.

Yes, the knot meter is reading 6.12 knots!

By the Aurora buoy, Poco Mas was only a few boatlengths back. Then disaster struck as the Equalizer went up sideways! It was quickly dropped to the foredeck but, once sorted, it went back up with a horrendous twist that took several long minutes to clear.

The Equalizer is flying again! Yee Haw!!!

By the time the Equalizer was properly flying, Poco Mas had gone by, though Full Moon was able to get back to an inside overlap before the AGC buoy as both boats caught up to the Nomad 17 Patuxent.

Heading upwind to the finish, Poco Mas slowly pulled ahead. Unfortunately, Patuxent found a nice line of wind further west and also pulled a bit ahead. In the end it was still close but Full Moon was awarded the yellow vinyl sticker for third place with Poco Mas first, Patuxent scored second, and Runner about a minute or so behind in fourth. However, it turns out that Patuxent was actually in the first start! That boosts Full Moon to second with Runner third and Zephyr further back in seventh place out of 32 boats in second start.

The top three boats will be in first start next week, which is just as well since it turns out it is better for the series score to be last in first start than it is to be first in the second start! Who knew?!?

One Good Turn

Full Moon at the start in very light wind with Zephyr in the background.

The wind for Goosebump race No. 2 was forecast to be extremely light and the crews were all hoping to avoid a drifter with the Seahawks playing for the NFC Championship at 3:30. Fortunately, the wind filled in nicely out of the north at about 10 knots just before the race start. Full Moon crew Randy “Rusty” Olsen, Art “Rusty” Teller, Daniel “Rusty” Mengedoht, and skipper John “Rusty” Mengedoht hadn’t raced since September but managed a mid-pack start. The big J145 Jedi had a worse start, being over early and not returning to restart, but was penalized two minutes rather than given a DNF or DSQ.

Full Moon did reasonably well tacking on the shifts upwind but had a close call underestimating the speed of Lulu, tacking too close (sorry Lulu – I definitely owe you one). Once past Lulu, Full Moon rounded the Freeway buoy not far behind rival Zephyr (San Juan 28). Full Moon stayed close to Zephyr on the close reach past Gasworks but could not prevent Wizard (J27) from rolling past to windward.

Zephyr attempting to pass to windward.

Rounding the Aurora buoy, there was a short delay hoisting the spinnaker but Zephyr was slow with their hoist as well and Full Moon pulled ahead. Zephyr then altered course to steal Full Moon’s wind (good move) and, amazingly, tried to pass to windward (risky move!). Full Moon hailed “leeward!” and began to turn up to thwart the pass but it was clear Zephyr wasn’t going to yield, her skipper yelling back some nonsense about the definition of “leeward.”  Since Zephyr’s skipper has been sailing and racing long enough to know better, you can draw your own conclusions about this tactic. However, it wasn’t worth a collision to make a point and Full Moon turned back downwind. The two boats ended up mostly side by side all the way down the lake, Full Moon just slightly faster in the puffs but unable to pull ahead without going into Zephyr’s wind shadow and slowing back down. Full Moon did get by Wizard, though, and maybe another boat or two while staying ahead of a couple of theoretically faster J boats.

Approaching the AGC buoy, the J30 Slingshot finally caught up just before the 3 boat-length circle, maneuvering inside and establishing right of way over Zephyr to round the buoy, at least under the formal racing rules (not adopted for this series). This apparently didn’t go over very well aboard Zephyr but, as Zephyr and Slingshot fought it out, Full Moon was provided ample room to turn inside both boats. To avoid the ongoing scrap, Full Moon then tacked away from both boats and into clear air. This took Full Moon into the path of boats still coming down the lake under spinnaker but it was soon obvious that this course was going to pay off handsomely compared to all the boats that rounded without tacking.

Full Moon heading for the finish line!

Wizard and the J24 Fat Chance followed Full Moon but couldn’t quite catch up as Full Moon finished close behind the relative giant Yankee III (Sabre 40) to take eighth place, an outstanding result given the mediocre start and nearly 40 racers out on the lake. Our old rival Ignitor (Martin 29) scored fifth, just ahead of speedy Scat (custom 25). Zephyr ended up much farther behind in 17^th place. Karma?

No Goosebumps 4U

The first race of the Goosebump series on Lake Union was cancelled due to concerns about potential high winds, or, at least, high gusts. This was unfortunate, since the actual conditions turned out to be fairly benign, but Full Moon will be ready for race number two!

Blow Me Down!

Puget Sound south of Edmonds. Karen Hadac photo.

Full Moon crew Tammy “Lotsa Socks” Cross, Michael “Bun Dip” Medina, Daniel “Film at 11” Mengedoht and skipper John “Bare Poles” Mengedoht headed out in strong wind from South Lake Union toward Shilshole for the Duck Dodge Rum Run. Steaming north on the lake wasn’t too bad but a quick turn south to check the wind proved that the conditions were already serious at over 30 knots. (Verity later reported a 47.8 knot gust on the lake and others reported steady wind over 35.)

Discretion being the better part of valor, at least according to Shakespeare, Full Moon returned to the dock to race another day. This proved wise as the wind on the Sound ranged in the high 30s to low 40s with gusts as high as 52 knots. The Duck Dodge Race Committee canceled the race rather than risk the Committee Boat, let alone the potential racers.

 

This wraps up racing for 2013 but Full Moon will be out in mid-January for the Goosebumps. Many thanks to my crew and the race committees for a great year on the water!

Vodka Duck

Dave hands off the traditional gift to the Race Committee.

Randy and John enjoying some end-of-summer sun in the pre-start.

Aboard Full Moon, the final Duck Dodge race is always Martini Night, celebrating the summer season with various vodka-based cocktails. Crew Randy “Yanker” Olsen, Art “Olives” Teller, Michael “Monkey” Medina, Marcelle “Hat” Lynde, Dave “Apple?” Pulsifer, Daniel “Generous Pour” Mengedoht, and skipper John “Sideways” Mengedoht were positioned reasonably well for the light-wind start and quickly hoisted the Equalizer for the close-reach first leg.

Passing Fortis to leeward with the Mighty Isis, aka the Equalizer. Yes, the pole should be lower...

That's Full Moon in the middle distance, heeled a bit to try and fill the sails.

Entering the dead zone at the AGC buoy.

This worked fairly well until the wind died on final approach to the AGC buoy, effectively condensing half the first start, all of second start, and a good part of third start into a drifting mass of bumper boats. Full Moon quickly dropped the spinnaker, joined the giant pinwheel, and then looked for an exit, slowly heading east to get away. About this time, an electric boat came by with free samples of Six Strawberries Artisan Ice Pops, a very nice treat and pleasant distraction from the lack of wind.

Escaping the morass.

This Catalina tries some alternate spinnaker technology to catch the wind up high...

 Eventually, of course, the wind began to fill in from the north and Full Moon was under way, seemingly alone other than a pair of 505 dinghies. Approaching the Freeway buoy, our friends on Cinc-o-Sink came up fast from behind and, while they never established an overlap, Full Moon swung wide to let them inside, partly to make sure there was room to tack away from an approaching gravel barge!

The final leg in fading light.

Daniel likes this stuff!

Dave, too!

Randy and Art have their buzz on...

The leg to the Aurora buoy was uneventful, once past the barge, and then it was time to hoist the spinnaker again for the downwind run to the finish. Crossing the line, Michael hailed the Committee (in jest) as to whether we’d won a duck. Amazingly, a horn was sounded, typically meaning a top three finish of some kind! Since Full Moon appeared to be no better than eighth in the second start fleet, this seemed very odd. Looping back around, sure enough the Committee extended a prize via boat hook.

It turns out somebody thought Full Moon had been in third start. This discrepancy was quickly cleared up – and we hope the Committee awarded a duck to the real second place boat – but, since the shiny silver sticker was on board and not easily returned, the crew decided that this must be the Vodka Duck for Fifth Start (there was definitely a fifth or two at the start…).

The Vodka Duck is applied to the boom, appropriately disoriented, where some hardware used to be. That pretty much fills the boom!

All in all, it was a great evening to complete the summer racing season. Thanks, as always, to the Race Committee and to the nineteen different crew members who joined the fun for a race or two or ten. Next up: The Rum Run!

Fleece Togas

Distance will have to work hard to catch this bunch!

Cloudy skies and cooler temperatures returned for the first time since late June for the Toga Night Duck Dodge but there was decent wind. Full Moon crew Randy “Halyards” Olsen, Michael “Twisted” Medina, Marcelle “Layers” Lynde, Daniel “Packer” Mengedoht, and skipper John “Comeback” Mengedoht were well positioned for a good start until the Pearson 30 Tenacious tacked just in front. Full Moon suffered in the resulting wind shadow and then just couldn’t seem to get going, rounding the Freeway buoy in a dismal seventeenth place.

Tacking immediately at the buoy for a clear lane, Full Moon then began chipping away at the boats in front, passing quite a few. Distance (Buchan 37) rolled by to windward approaching the Aurora buoy but Full Moon returned the favor, slicing inside as Distance made a wide turn tacking at the mark.

The Equalizer, aka Mighty Isis, does it's thing.

The Equalizer was quickly launched to good effect as Full Moon passed more boats and stayed ahead of Distance. Approaching the AGC buoy, Distance poked inside (with no rights since overlap wasn’t established until nearly rounding the mark) but speedy Scat had strayed far to the right, allowing Full Moon to easily slide in front and into ninth place. Heading back upwind, Full Moon stayed hard on the wind while Distance and Scat cracked off a bit for more speed. This cost them both as they had to tack to cross the start-finish line to complete the first lap while Full Moon easily cleared the Committee Boat and pulled ahead.

And that wasn't the fastest - we saw over seven knots under spinnaker.

The wind went a bit light crossing the lake toward the Aurora buoy and Distance fell behind. Scat did better in the light stuff and rounded the Aurora buoy just behind Full Moon. The Equalizer bought a little cushion heading south but, unfortunately, the drop at the AGC buoy was problematic and Scat caught back up. Once again, Full Moon stayed hard on the wind while Scat eased the sheets a bit for more speed. Unfortunately, this time Full Moon could not quite lay the Committee Boat and Scat was able to tack in front to take seventh with Full Moon very close behind in a still-excellent eighth.

Insomniacs

J, Daniel, John, Tammie, and Kristen in the prestart maneuvers.

Pajama Night once again provided both sunny skies and a decent but very shifty breeze. Full Moon crew Art “I’m Ready” Teller, Tammy “Wrapped Up” Cross, J “Twinkle Toes” Irons, Kristen “Winch Wench” Bakken, Gary “Free Ride” Greene, Daniel “Multi-tasker” Mengedoht, and skipper John “Hemline” Mengedoht nailed the start on port tack at the “pin” end of the line in close company with several other boats, most of which were bigger, faster, or both. Big Mata Hari (Catalina 36) quickly pulled out ahead with speedy Dreams (Olson 25) not far behind.

The Thunderbird Valkyrie is dead ahead just after rounding the Freeway buoy - but Selchie is still behind!

What looked like a nice close reach to the Freeway buoy didn’t quite work out as the wind shifted about 150 yards out and Full Moon lost a couple of places with an extra tack. Once around, the wind went light and very shifty heading past Gasworks. The well-sailed Thunderbird Selchie made the best of this to get past before rounding the Aurora buoy (drat!).

After a brief delay to hoist the pole, the Equalizer was launched and Full Moon took off south, passing Selchie to leeward (hooray!) and gaining on the other boats ahead. The spinnaker came down cleanly at the AGC buoy and Full Moon headed north to complete the first lap.

Tammie gets into the spinnaker take-down.

The second lap had similar wind conditions as the first but Full Moon held her own, gaining and losing distance here and there but not passing or being passed. The spinnaker take-down got a bit messy but it stayed out of the water and Full Moon cruised to the line with an excellent 10^th place finish, still ahead of Selchie and more than 20 other boats. 

Island Jam

Full Moon crew heading out from the dock.

Full Moon crew Sara “Quick Tack” Schroeder, Marcelle “Quick Study” Lynde, Michael “Quick Fix” Medina, Daniel “Quick Pack” Mengedoht, and skipper John “Quick Start” Mengedoht had an awesome start for the Tropical Night Duck Dodge, bested only by one or two boats risking a port tack approach. The line to the Freeway buoy was a straight close reach and Full Moon rounded in close company with Dreams (Olson 25), Scat (custom 25), Mata Hari (Catalina 36), and Distance (Buchan 37).

What is that huge nylon cloud?

Dreams was out in front and stayed there for a while but Full Moon mixed it up well with the other three across Gasworks and to the Aurora buoy, along with the J27 Summer Babe. Troubles with the spinnaker pole delayed launching the mighty Equalizer, preventing any gains on the long beam reach to the AGC buoy. After rounding the buoy, the fleet headed for the floating “island” sponsored by the 48 Degrees North sailing magazine that was dispensing free beer. As all boats had to round the “island,” this made for some interesting maneuvers for those boats most determined to collect some beer!

A thirsty crew approaches the "island."

After the island, boats were required to go through the start/finish line to start the second lap, though apparently the skipper of the big Baba 40 Airloom forgot this detail. Ahem… Regardless, Full Moon had managed to pass Distance somewhere north of the island and rounded the Freeway buoy ahead of both Distance and Airloom. Full Moon continued to hold off Airloom on the beat toward the Aurora buoy but elected to duck behind Distance when crossing tacks approaching the buoy (Full Moon might have crossed in front but better safe than sorry).

Full Moon gains on the fleet on the second lap.

The Equalizer was quickly deployed again for the beam reach south to the AGC buoy and Full Moon reeled in a J24 and J22, which had gotten past at some point, while gaining a fair bit on Mata Hari and then also passing Distance. The J24 gained back some ground approaching the island but then opted not to try and round it, probably due to some slow-moving third start boats clogging the area. Full Moon rounded properly, though it did take a while to get clear as some of the boats were clearly far more interested in the beer than in actually making their boats move!

Approaching the finish line, Distance was gaining from behind but could not quite catch Full Moon, which placed an excellent fifth, discounting the J24, which “cheated” by not rounding the island. The sun set far too early but a great time was had by all!

Team Tropical

Full Moon crew Randy “Bose” Olsen, Debra “Raspberry” Ricard, Don “Supportive Seat” Caffrey, Daniel “Twisted” Mengedoht, and skipper John “Pineapple” Mengedoht suffered from theme confusion for the Team Spirit Duck Dodge (skipper error!) but managed a fairly good start near the middle of the line. The ensuing close reaching drag race saw a convergence of boats at the Freeway buoy but no collisions and Full Moon emerged with a clear lane toward the Aurora buoy. This track worked out fairly well with Full Moon crossing tacks with speedy Scat and 36’ Mata Hari approaching the Aurora buoy.

The pole was hoisted before the buoy and the mighty Equalizer was quickly launched for a thrilling very fast reach toward the AGC buoy. Full Moon could not quite catch Mata Hari but Scat’s move toward the middle of the lake did not pay off and they rounded the AGC buoy a bit behind.

Heading back upwind was another no-tacks drag race toward the Freeway buoy. Scat eventually got past to windward and the big Buchan 37 Distance worked past to leeward but Full Moon was holding her own in the leading group of boats.

Full Moon flies past Gas Works on the second lap. Jeremy Jones photo.

Full Moon headed a little closer to Gas Works on the second lap in hopes of finding an advantage but the wind was pretty even across the north end of the lake. Still, Full Moon crossed tacks with Scat approaching the Aurora buoy – a good indicator that Full Moon had good speed.

Chasing Mata Hari (blue spinnaker) and Distance on the second lap.

Unfortunately, the Equalizer had a twist going up, delaying the hoist slightly and getting the clew wet. Still, Full Moon had good speed, matching Scat’s pace, as well as Mata Hari and Distance ahead. Unfortunately, it was soon clear that the wind had died around the AGC buoy as a large and growing pack of boats were essentially parked. The fleet was soon compressed with Full Moon nearly catching Selchie while even Ignitor and Zephyr caught up from behind. In the densely packed drift-a-thon of bumper boats, Full Moon was forced to take whatever path was available, very slowly inching around the buoy.

At this point, several boats started rocking back and forth to induce some forward motion (not exactly legal…) and Shogun came roaring by under power tossing water balloons. Two balloons landed on Full Moon, Don nicely deflecting one to prevent dilution of the beverage cups, but the spiffy new hypodermic style squirt gun was ready to hand and Full Moon returned fire, getting at least two of the Shogun crew wet before they could escape.

The wind eventually began to fill in from the north, leading to a nice romp to the finish line. Our best guesstimate is that Full Moon finished around 12^th but it was hard to tell. Ignitor fared well rounding the AGC buoy and had maneuvered ahead, catching the wind first to defeat Full Moon for the first time all summer. Zephyr, however, took a very wide rounding to avoid the mess and this cost them in the end. 

Spinnaker Surprise

Prestart maneuvers. That is Full Moon in the middle, sailing directly away from the camera.

The wind was very light and out of the SW for the Prom Night start and Full Moon crew Michael “No Sheet” Medina, Dave “No Tail” Pulsifer, Judy “No Smile” Tiffany, Daniel “No Tunes” Mengedoht, and skipper John “No Wind” Mengedoht ended up crossing the starting line a few minutes late. A tack toward the Westlake shore paid off well for a while until the wind filled in a bit in the middle, allowing the Capri 25 Triple Time and rival Zephyr to pass by. Approaching the AGC buoy, traffic had stacked up and Full Moon rounded in a tight sandwich between Salsa (J29) and Penelope (C&C 99) from the first start.

Daniel likes his post by the mast upwind.

Full Moon delayed hoisting the spinnaker briefly to allow a bit more space between boats but then the giant Equalizer was put to use and Full Moon began to gain on the fleet ahead. Creeping up on Zephyr, Full Moon took a jog to windward, somehow maintained momentum in what looking like no wind at all, and approached the Freeway buoy having passed a number of boats. The big Buchan 37 Distance, however, was closing on the buoy on starboard with right of way so Full Moon swung wide. Distance lost a bunch of speed in their turn and gybe, though, and Full Moon nosed out ahead.

Full Moon is the second spinnaker from the right not long before passing Zephyr.

Unfortunately, while the spinnaker came down cleanly, the jib sheets were thoroughly tangled and, without power from the jib, Selchie, Triple Time, and Distance were able to get by from behind. Finding good wind close to Gasworks, Full Moon made up some of the losses, made a good tack to lay the Aurora buoy, and once again launched the Equalizer in a light NW breeze.

Heading for what turned out to be the finish, Full Moon was able to steal Triple Time’s wind and then roll to leeward to just barely eke out sixth place, an awesome finish given the poor start. Meanwhile, it was time to break out the Prom Night treats including a well-iced bottle of pink champagne! (Thanks, Dave!).

The Lost Buoy

Katie, John, and Randy enjoy some good breeze on the first leg.

Full Moon crew Randy “Variety Pack” Olsen, Art “Water Boy” Teller, Chuck “Boom Boom” Weldy, Katie “Detroit Brownies” Freels, Daniel “Head Banger” Mengedoht, and skipper John “Skippy” Mengedoht had an excellent front row start for the Duck Dodge this week, tacking to port at the horn with a clear lane toward Gasworks. Unfortunately, the boat then felt a bit sluggish with a J24 and rival Zephyr (San Juan 28) rolling by to windward. A strategic series of tacks toward the Aurora buoy paid off to put Full Moon back in front of those two. Then it became apparent that the buoy was missing!

Chuck and Daniel like where we are. That is Selchie to the far left.

Since this has never happened before (not!), most boats, including Full Moon, simply picked a spot roughly where the buoy is normally to be found and made their turn. Once around the invisible buoy, the mighty Equalizer was quickly launched to good effect and Full Moon headed south toward the AGC buoy in seventh place only about 200 yards behind the lead boats.

Cap'n John catches flies while Daniel keeps the jib nicely trimmed.

Approaching the AGC buoy, which was actually there, the wind died down substantially and Full Moon coasted around the buoy to close within only 50 yards of always-speedy Scat. Then the wind began to fill back in from the north and the front-runners pulled back ahead to a more substantial lead, though Full Moon also put some distance on the boats behind.

The wind goes light near the AGC buoy. There are a LOT of boats behind us!

Full Moon again felt a bit slow upwind on port tack (time to check the bottom for slime?), allowing Selchie and a speedy trimaran to get by before rounding the Freeway buoy. However, as with the first leg, Full Moon improved on the leg to the Aurora buoy location and passed both boats before blasting off again with the Equalizer.

Rounding the AGC buoy, Full Moon was just ahead of the J27 Summer Babe. The J-boat had to work for it but got by just at the Freeway buoy before making the U-turn toward the finish line. In the end, Full Moon was an excellent eighth place, ahead of Selchie and all the normal rivals save Runner, which had a great start and a terrific race. Next up: Prom Night!

Reality Check

Daniel hangs on to the jib sheet as Eileen supervises and Dad eyes the competition.

Tammy pulls in the sheet after another nice tack.

Art enjoys his post-launch handiwork as the Mighty Isis flies downwind.

Rounding the Freeway buoy before the dash to the finish line.

Full Moon crew Art “Matzo” Teller, Doug “Clouds” Schoemaker, Tammy “Twister” Cross, Eileen “Cookies” McHugh, Daniel “Stuffer” Mengedoht, and skipper John “Ray Charles” Mengedoht went for a conservative starboard tack start for Egyptian Night but got caught up in traffic and took a while to find a clear lane to windward. Sailing nearly to Gasworks paid off fairly well before tacking west toward the Aurora buoy, which was set pretty far north and close to moored barges and ships. Fellow-Mooner Michael Medina hovered near the buoy in a kayak and told us we were in 11^th place, having already passed several boats, including Penelope from the first start.

A quick launch of the Mighty Isis (aka the Equalizer) and a move toward the center of the lake got Full Moon past the Olson 25 Iolar and a light blue Capri 25 plus Rachel from the first start. Unfortunately, the Ranger 26 Runner went even further toward the east and found enough more breeze to slide by to leeward before rounding the AGC buoy.

Heading back upwind and then around the Freeway buoy, Full Moon was evenly matched with Runner and the Capri. The Aurora buoy was now in a nearly windless hole with light wind touching down randomly. Runner managed to get past, as did the black Redline (not sure if that is the boat name?) but, once around, Full Moon sat parked with the Capri on one side and Runner on the other, spinnakers drooping. Finally the wind began to fill in from the northeast and Full Moon got by Runner, the Capri, and even the 40’ Bolero on the long reach to the AGC buoy.

Returning upwind, Full Moon held off Runner and the Capri but the Buchan 37 Distance got by in the freshening breeze. Near the Freeway buoy, Full Moon was on starboard tack with the Capri approaching on port. As the Capri ducked behind, Full Moon tacked for a textbook “slam dunk” and, after one more tack, rounded just in front of the Capri. Both boats launched spinnakers for the reach to the finish but Full Moon stayed directly in front to take 8^th place – an excellent finish given the poor start and strong competition.

Red, White and Bronze!

Kate and Jeremy enjoying the sunshine.

Chuck demonstrates being "ship-faced."

The Equalizer just after launch.
Daniel likes going fast as dad steers with his knees.

Daniel prepares to receive the coveted vinyl sticker.

Cap'n John prepares to add to the duck collection on the boom.

With wind out of the NW and the starting line set more or less due east-west, Full Moon crew Michael “Hot Dog” Medina, Chuck “Ship-Faced” Weldy, Kate “Nicknamer” Austin, Jeremy “Justified” Jones, Daniel “Coke Abuse” Mengedoht, and skipper John “The Enabler” Mengedoht opted to try a port tack start at the heavily favored west (Committee Boat) end of the line. Unfortunately, a number of other boats had the same idea, with predictable carnage as the mass of port tackers met the line of starboard tack boats with right of way. Full Moon somehow managed to emerge unscathed and near the front of the fleet, though not exactly according to plan...

The J30 Slingshot powered out ahead of Full Moon, as did a white Thunderbird, but Full Moon did very well on the next tack to the west, nailing the approach to the Aurora buoy and passing several boats including the white T-bird and always-speedy Selchie. With a quick launch of the mighty Equalizer spinnaker, Full Moon took off on a hot reach southward, putting substantial distance on boats behind and reeling in Slingshot before rounding the AGC buoy. Heading back north to complete the first lap, Full Moon was up to sixth place, just behind relative giant Bolero and a dark blue Olson 25.

Some well-timed tacks approaching the Freeway buoy saw both Bolero and the Olson drop behind and suddenly Full Moon was fourth and not far behind the J-27 Summer Babe in third. A crowded rounding of the Aurora buoy caused Summer Babe to lose ground and Full Moon managed to round inside and into third!

The Equalizer did its thing on another smoking reach to the AGC buoy, which was another crowded rounding as the lead second start boats started passing some first starters as well as lapping some slow third start boats. Full Moon got by first-starters Penelope (C&C 99) and a heavily loaded Heart Attack (J-80) on the long upwind leg back to the Freeway buoy, then threaded through tight traffic at the buoy before launching the Equalizer one last time for the reach to the finish. Summer Babe and Slingshot were not too far behind but couldn’t catch Full Moon as she scored the Bronze Duck for an astounding third place finish, our first duck in second start in a long long time. Huzzah!!!