WADING INTO ONE DESIGNS

LATITUDE / CHRIS

that the little Santana 22s like long races (one hour each) too. The races we were given at the first YRA regatta were only 20 minutes long. We felt short-changed." This year's championship series consisted of BYC's Wheeler Regatta, YRA Series #1, #2 and #4, the Nationals, and CBRA #6. See www.santana22.org. 1) Alegre, 9 points. 2) Albacore, Mike Quinn, RYC, 17 points; 3) Meliki, Deb Fehr, EYC, 28. (15 boats)

Bartz Schneider

able to design, build, and deliver a new .75-ounce kite for the Nationals in just nine days. That too was amazing." The biggest disappointment of Expeditious's season came when they rounded Point Bonita in a stiff northwesterly during the distance race in the Nationals. "We hoisted the new kite and promptly poked the pole through the foot of it. We figured that if we reached up to come

1) Expeditious, 17 points; 2) Golden Moon, Bill Bridge, EYC, 24; 3) Stewball, Bob Harford, BYC/RYC, 26. (9 boats)

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any one-design classes wrap up their season championship series with Richmond YC's Great Pumpkin Regatta on the last weekend of October. We plan WWW.NORCALSAILING.COM

Express 37, Expeditious Bartz Schneider, SFYC/StFYC Bartz Schneider of Crystal Bay, Nevada, cites "Skilled and consistent crew, great sails, thorough preparation, and the absence of Kame on Golden Moon," as factors that returned his Expeditious to the top of the Express 37 fleet in 2017. (Sailmaker Kame Richards, who won the season championship in 2009, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2015 and 2016, sat out 2017 with a bum knee.) Schneider bought the current Expeditious in 1995. "Before that, I owned an Express 34, also Expeditious, from new in 1987. I believe the current Expeditious was built in 1983. It had an illustrious racing history as Blitz with owner George Neal." The Express 37s sailed 14 races for their Season Championship, with three throwouts. Regattas that counted toward points were RYC's Big Daddy, BYC's Rollo Wheeler, both days of the YRA Great Vallejo Race, the YRA Series Olympic Circle race, the YRA Second Half Opener and SFYC's Summer Keel. "My favorite regatta, as it has been for years, was the SFYC Summer Keel in August," said Schneider. "SFYC always does a great job, with perfect venues for both the racing and after racing. And this year we got bullets in four out of the five races!" All was not smooth sailing, however. "We blew up both of our first-line kites in the windy Rolex Big Boat Series. (We ended up flying a 1.5-ounce kite built by Pineapple in 1987. Did that ad just inside the front cover say their kites are long-lived? Thanks Kame!) North was

Mike 'aerospace engineer' Vergalla on the main really knows his lift and drag. Phil Jones, Bud Mehm, Aaron Stagg and Paul Caturegli performed the cockpit ballet. Elizabeth Little did the heavy lifting in the pit, while Chris Hackett was wherever whenever he was needed, basically keeping the front and the back in sync. And last but not least, my son Marshall, in his second year as tactician, called some pretty brilliant shots." Looking forward to 2018, Schneider said, "I would hope not to be so far behind going into the last race of the Nationals, and maybe to win a watch at the Rolex Big Boat Series." See www.express37.net.

in on the north side of the Gate, as we wanted, we would almost certainly blow up the new kite. So we ran off, did a peel change to the 1.5-ounce, ended up coming in on the south side and got a resounding DFL." Schneider said that he had a wonderfully consistent team throughout the season. "Andrew Kirsch and Denis Marriott on the front were near perfection.

'Expeditious' (left) wins the pin in a start during the Express 37 Nationals on September 29.

to track down reports from those fleets for the December issue. We also invite Bay Area fleet captains to be proactive and reach out to us at racing@latitude38. com. Disclaimer: No puppies were harmed in the writing of this feature. — latitude/chris November, 2017 •

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