Cake or Death takes Silver on "Dead Celebrity Night", Duck Dodge 2012

Normally I don’t recap the duck dodge because there are too many and drinking is usually involved. But on the epic night of 7/10/2012 the crew of Ana Maria, AKA “Cake or Death”, AKA Stiff Kitty (talk to the duck dodge chairman) put together a solid performance which deserves memorializing in standard recap fashion…

Sunny and 75 (literally) on the shores of Lake Union and a race was underway before Ana Maria even left the dock. Crew members Milad and Fisch were likely wishing they could scuttle land yachts as they zigged and zagged their way across the rush-hour asphalt from the eastside to Lake Union Waterworks excessively late for dock call. Bets were placed on who would make the boat first and it was Milad by a unibrow. Both were dressed somewhat appropriately.

Wind at pre-start was blowing roughly 10-12kn predominately from the NW. We positioned ourselves well on the line on starboard towards the pin at the gun and created ourselves a clear lane to tack onto port for the first beat to Aurora. After a few hitches in noticeably softer pressures we tacked to lay Aurora a bit early. While the bow gals worked on a bear-away set-up we watched Sushi, who was also low of the mark, take a monster lift about a boat length before rounding. Good news was we made the mark, bad news was the new breeze made the proper
rounding a gybe-set. The really bad news is this further bolsters the bow gals position that I will never, ever, make up my mind, ever, about how to set for a rounding.

We weren’t the only boat to struggle with how to round the mark so we didn’t lose much ground while the rigging was mirrored. We made some moves out to the middle of the lake and put a gybe in while Milad distracted the competition by performing a baba karam in his Hugo Boss suit (yes, like a boss). We had a decent douse, albeit a bit close to AGC, and broke away in clear air with Anakena sneaking in to weather at the mark.

You. Submit to my trimming prowess.

Back upwind we traded crossings with Anakena, us coming out on top by the last flop to the freeway mark. I got rather confused when Full Moon rounded and didn’t set for the finish, assuming Fisch was already drunk when he confirmed the evening’s course. Meanwhile, Tantivity was arriving on her second lap and tacked a bit too soon creating some expensive looking congestion at the mark. I think Caleb channeled his inner Yoda and used the force to ratchet Tantivity’s momentum factor up as she sailed about a boat length head to wind around the mark, just in time to clear the zone for the first few 3rd starters approaching.

Kyle rightfully chastises fisch for excessive pinching. Milad spills beer on his head.

Our second hoist went much better but the breeze continued to go soft and a little shore breeze on the east started looking favorable. We put a gybe in but couldn’t cross Anakena who was on starboard so the effort was negated. The final run to the finish was a concentration on trim as it became obvious that Full Moon had switched to 2nd start and the only boat ahead of us in 3rd start was the well sailed Sushi… We kept both Anakena and True Blue at bay as we waited our first signal blast in a duck dodge – but it didn’t sound!!! Anakena got hers and I thought Nicole was gonna go all Lou Ferrigno on the RC volunteers. Turned out there was a nearby wardrobe malfunction distracting the horn operator and we did indeed earn 2nd place and our very first vinyl duck! In the end we didn’t even need the blast from the RC as it was evident that Jill brought enough guns for everybody.

Sun sets on our 1st podium finish!!!

Our fantastic crew for the evening was Caleb Patterson Heath Ledger’ing the sail trim, Milad Sadegi Ayatollah Khomeini’ing winch work, Kent Fischer David Carradine’ing the snake pit, Jill Bruins Anna Nicole Smith’ing the spin pole, Nicole Haustveit Farrah Fawcett’ing the foredeck, and Kyle Roethle Billy Mays’ing the tiller.

It's okay, Jill carries a concealed weapons permit for those.

Celebratory beers with the boss.

1st duck for team Cake or Death! (2nd Place!)