2011 Express 27 Nationals – Shenanigans!
San Francisco Yacht Club
September 16-18

All successful endeavors start with planning and your odds increase by mastering the basics. Onboard Shenanigans for the 2011 Nationals my partners Bill Moore, John Collins and I made sure the boat was prepared leaving as little to chance as possible. One example of this was our combined crew weight on the evening before the event was exactly 880 pounds!

While Shenanigans gets sailed quite regularly, coming into the event most of our sails and running rigging was 4+ years old so we had Easom Rigging & North Sails provide some excellent solutions. We selected North to provide the sails given our familiarity with the product and their consistently fast designs. We added 3 new sails to the boat; a Nordac Radian mainsail, 3DL Technora Scrim 155% jib and an Airx 600 spinnaker. Our North 3DL #3 was new in 2008 and still had excellent shape and range. Next we made certain the rig was tuned and set up with a medium rake number for a flood tide event.

Once the platform was sorted – we knew we could keep our heads out of the boat and focus on good starts and avoid making any big mistakes. Our upwind speed and height were excellent throughout the range of conditions we faced. I always felt comfortable getting speed or height when the situation warranted it. Downwind our speed was good but the legs always favored the pursuers given the lighter conditions at the bottom mark.

One significant improvement to our boat handling was to cross-sheet the 155% jib to the high side winch. Once the crew technique was mastered it really improved our speed coming out of tacks and avoided sending someone to leeward to cut the sheet. We used Harken Ratchamatic blocks as turning blocks that allowed the tail to be brought to weather and held prior to getting it to the weather primary winch. The auto-ratchet feature allowed the lazy sheet to run freely in tacks once the load was off it.

The distance race was a lot of fun - getting past the north tower and the kayakers without anyone drowning was a challenge! We escaped that gauntlet better than some boats that had a hard time keeping clear of the terrified paddlers! (“Share the Bay dude!”) I have to hand it to Ray Lotto and the crew of El Raton for their cunning and treachery! We were saying as Ray came roaring up at the Point Bonita Buoy that the “long-distance master” had better be watched! We were right to be wary as 20 miles later he made his charge into first on the last leg! Thankfully he was the only boat we dropped on that leg as the fleet compressed dramatically in Raccoon Straights.

My crew for this event consisted of good friends who I have sailed with for years. It was a real pleasure to get them together on Shenanigans and take advantage of their skills and allow me to focus on keeping the boat moving. From the bow aft we had; Eric Baumhoff, John Collins, Seadon Wijsen, Keith Stahnke and Nick Gibbens.

I have always enjoyed sailing and racing the Express 27 and although I spend more time day-sailing with my family these days - the boat and class still delivers excellent racing! See you next year!

Nick Gibbens
Shenanigans #67