Express 37 Nationals and Fleet News

Mark Bird, race chair at Berkeley Yacht Club, filed this report on the Express 37 Nationals, which the club hosted in late September:

“The Express 37 Nationals are back at Berkeley Yacht Club after taking a year off to find itself.” San Francisco YC had hosted the regatta in 2023 (in conjunction with the Express 27 Nationals), when Shawn Ivie’s L.A.-based Limitless won the title.

“As it turned out, 2024 was a light-attendance year with only six boats entering the regatta.” Mark talked to Express 37 racers and learned that this has been a year of turnover, with owners moving and boats being sold, “and, hopefully, purchased by owners who can be enticed into the world of Express 37 one-design racing. Notable boats that have changed ownership recently include Golden Moon, previously owned by Kame Richards; and Spindrift V, previously owned by Andy Schwenk (who stills actively sails her). On the flip side, Pazzo Express, which had been in hibernation for a number of years, has reemerged under the new ownership of Gavin Corn and is actively racing in the fleet nowadays.

Three Days of Racing

“As the fleet works through the ownership transitions, the racing must go on. The six boats that entered the three-day regatta were treated to a great event. It was a Friday-to-Sunday affair, on September 27-29, with just about perfect conditions for racing. The courses were a combination of shorter buoy racing and longer Bay races that incorporated permanent navigation buoys. The wind was WSW on Friday, starting light, which necessitated an onshore postponement. The race finally got underway at 1:25 p.m., with winds at 5-10 knots out of the southwest and building. Both Friday races were of the buoy variety.”

“Saturday brought stronger wind, cooler weather and an on-time start. The first race was the longest of the regatta at 21 miles — from the Berkeley Circle out to Harding Rock and back, twice around. The first boat finished in just over three hours. After a short lunch and sail-change break, the second race of the day kicked off. This one was a short 4-mile buoy race and straight to the clubhouse, with the boats navigating their way around the actively working dredger as it dug out the entrance to Berkeley Marina.

“Sunday’s races were medium length, with an 11-mile run to Harding Rock and back, and a 4-mile buoy race. The wind stayed steady out of the southwest all three days, with some choppy conditions on Saturday.

“The racing was mostly clean, with a couple of over-earlies on Saturday and one radio call from a tanker captain wanting to know whose boats those were in front of him.”

“Andy Schwenk and crew of Spindrift V took home the first-place trophy, a Cold War-era crystal bowl owned by former CIA operatives.” Sailing on Spindrift V were Conrad Holbrook, Will Paxton, Cindy Evans, new owner Lisa Wilson, Andy Schwenk, Cooper Hershfield-Cohen, Mark Jordan, Greg O’Toole and Scott Watkins.

The second- and third-place trophies were literal pickle dishes. BYC awarded them to Bartz Schneider’s Expeditious and Dante Branciforte’s Mudshark respectively. See complete results here on Jibeset.

We saved our favorite photo from Glen Garfein’s images of the regatta for November’s Racing Sheet. That issue hit the docks today, so check it out. Also see the class website at https://express37.net.