A day in the life of an Express 37

by Sean Downey on 17 Sep 2005 Escapade had a rough start to the Rolex Big Boat Series, but clawed up the finishing ladder on day two when a quickly assembled crew took to the waters on Friday.

Escapade is an Express 37 owned by Greg Mitchell of San Francisco, California who is an International 14 sailor and works for Cisco Systems. On the first day of racing, he was flying back from a business trip in Dublin, Ireland while friend and skipper, Steve Brown of Long Beach, California took the boat out.

Brown is also an Express 37 owner (Brown Sugar) who comes off a second place finish in the Centennial Transpac. Mitchell commented, ‘Steve called me and said he couldn’t get the boat up and asked if I was going out. I told him I was on a trip but said he was welcome to use the boat.’

Brown hit the road and brought a full contingent of southern California sailors with him.

Their first two races were ‘terrible’ in the words of Brown. ‘We didn’t have a foredeck man and you can’t play this game up here without one. It’s the front of the boat, anybody can drive, but without somebody up there, you can’t get the chutes up or down.’

The crew had a spinnaker failure when a hole was ripped out during a launch.

Coming into race three and four, Brown new he needed hands, and especially the weight attached to them to calm the extremely competitive and light racer/cruiser that is the Express 37. He called on veteran bowman and friend, Bob Zellmer of Long Beach, to take over the front end of the boat.

On Friday, the crew totaled nine (with this Editor aboard it was ten) and the boat seemed to settle down into a quick groove. The wind was blowing a good 15 knots when racing began.

In the first race of the day, race three, Escapade was the second boat around the first windward mark. However, the crew pushed it too close and hit the mark resulting in a penalty turn that knocked them back to eighth place, where they finished.

Race four was postponed due to a commercial tug towing a barge in the area. When the race was finally started, Escapade rocketed out in first, just to have a general recall sounded which brought the fleet back into another sequence. On the second sequence, the offending yacht from the first start was able to overcome their starting jitters and let the boats off clean. Once again, Escapade was the commanding boat off the starting line to windward of the entire fleet.

The fleet tacked up the city front to the joy of spectators and tourists along the pier district, and continued up to the Golden Gate Bridge where the wind strengthened to 19 knots. At this first windward mark, the crew aboard Escapade found themselves in 5th place. It was a really ‘squirrelly’ ride with a 5ft quartering swell.

Many of the other boats around Escapade were rounding up right in front of St. Francis Yacht Club. Just further down the course, another boat rounded down, then up and nearly clipped a bell bouy. Just behind them, still another crew lost it and it resulted in synchronized crashing.

Once again, great viewing for the spectators and tourists along the pier district.

It was on this leg that the crew experienced technical difficulties with their spinnaker which resulted in the halyard blowing out halfway. Mitchell and Russ Turk, pitman, along with Mitchell and Zellmer were able to winch up the spinnaker once again. However, the damage was done and the boat lost valuable time and two boat lengths of position.

On the final beat to windward, the winds strengthened to 32 knots apparent (25 true), and the swell was 4-6 feet. The fleet was extremely close around the windward mark. However, even with some more round-ups/downs, the crew aboard Escapade could not claw their way back and finished eighth, once again.

Even after finishing towards the bottom of the fleet, Brown was happy with their performance. ‘I’m just so freakin happy to hang out with my ‘road dogs’ and go play boats! But besides that, seeing how we got dead-last both races yesterday by a whole leg, being three boat lengths apart from boats in front of us, overlapped with others, and in front of still others, I’m estatic.’

Mitchell was impressed as well, ‘I feel great about today and had a fun time. The boat was moving along and for having a pick-up crew with some new guys we did really well despite some issues. We were in the hunt.’

About the boat:

Boat Name: Escapade

The concept for the Express 37 was developed in 1984 by Carl Schumacher and boat builder Terry Alsberg of Alsberg Brothers Boatworks in Santa Cruz. When Schumacher penned the Express 37, his objective was to design a boat that would excel on long ocean races, that was easy and safe to sail short-handed, and would have at least 6' of standing headroom. The first boats built finished 1,2 and 3 in the 1985 TransPac, an ocean race held on the West Coast. There were eventually 65 built and they also compiled an enviable record.

Schumacher's design has come to be referred to as a 'masthead-fractional' rig, given the large, low-aspect main and small, high-aspect foretriangle. Helmsmen and trimmers find the design more forgiving to sail than a fractional rig. With a high ballast-to-displacement ratio of 47%, she's also a stiff boat well suited for windy condition like those on San Francisco Bay. With an active fleet on both East and West coasts, the Express 37 is a testament to Schumacher's talent and the enduring appeal of the yachts he designed.


Owner: Greg Mitchell, San Francisco, California

Skipper: Steve Brown, Long Beach, California


Crew:

Bill Darant, Long Beach, California

Russ Turk, Huntington Beach, California

Mike Reed, Long Beach, California

Rick Brizendine, Long Beach, California

Brian Valle, Tiburon, California

Joe Guthry, Richmond, California

Bob Zellmer, Long Beach, California

Friday’s 10th man: Sean Downey, Long Beach, California