Here's the story on the Sonic 30 from an owner who needed help with the uncompleted interior. I sent him photos of the e 27 interior, which is also similar to the Sonoma's and Synergy's interiors; all have the signiture slat benches. I was doing research on Carl Schumacher's designs, trying to develope a time line on his designs. Here's the e mail thread:

"Bill: Thanks for the kind remarks on my boat. Almost but not quite a Sonoma 30. After Gorman (or whatever his name was) skipped on Carl Schumacher and went back to Australia, Carl entered into an agreement with Tom Vance in Port Townsend, Washington, to rework the Sonoma 30. Using some of the mods done for a customer for a heavily modified Olson 30 called Vanishing Girl, and the keel from The Great Red Shark (Sonoma 30 Hull #1 in Hawaii), three SONIC 30 hulls were built, but only one was assembled...mine. Think of a Sonoma 30 hull with a retractable bulb keel, elliptical rudder, rounded corners on the cabin and coaming edges, taller rig and longer boom, and masthead spinnaker. Vance also built an Express 27 (for Carl) and an Express 34 in the early 90's. BUT, then Vance skipped on Carl, got married, and quickly headed off to go around the world in a Freya 39 five years ago. Then when Russel Belden approached Carl to build a new boat based on the Sonoma/Sonic 30, Carl told him of Vance. He could not reach Vance so built the Synergy 1000 (9 hulls, but not all built) as Timeless Marine. The bow is more vertical and the half-high stern was removed to extend the stern (open cockpit stern) to extend the sailing length. Well, Timeless wasn't timeless, the boat was way too high-tech built causing an exorbitant price and it folded, and it folded. Russel's trying to start an America's Cup campaign based in Seattle probably did not help. Bankruptcy problems now diminished, he is trying to build more Synergy's but lower tech and cheaper. See sailinganarchy.com for the Synergy ad and link to the web site. There are several Express 27 and Sonoma 30/Synergy 1000 posters on the forum there also. Carl once told me on the phone that the Sonoma 30 and it's evolutions were among his favorite designs and biggest disappointments all because of builder problems (flakey). I added the flakey.

The Express 27 was on MY short list as a really great boat, but there are none that I know of in Puget Sound and I would have had to go south to find one at the time. Of course, then the Sonic 30 became available. I would like to see the interior of an E-27 to get ideas for my interior. Carl had said the layout was basically the same, but Vance never finished it.

Ben Daniels

-----Original Message-----

From: Ben Daniels [mailto:bendaniels@msn.com] Sent: Tuesday, November 25, 2003 9:26 AM To: Bill Park Subject: Thanks for the info Bill: A little background on my Sonic 30. There were three hulls and decks produced, primarily...I was told...under the direction of Chris Corlett (now in the bay area as a broker), and they appear to have been done quite well. Vacuum bag process with Baltek core and vinylester resins. Vance has the remaining two sets under a lean-to in Port Townsend, Washington. The boat went a little downhill from there, as in his haste to get one to the San Francisco Boat Show in the winter of '95, I swear they were installing hardware, pulpits, maststep, etc. while trailering the boat down I-5. Probably with a side trip to the West Marine in Portland for nuts and bolts. They obviously forgot the caulk, because much of the hardware had none. I can laugh now, because most of everything has been re-bedded. I'll do the maststep once the new rudder hardware is on. The old one was from Schaeffer and recommended for boats 20' and less. Real scary when it broke. On the plus side, the boat is a great to sail with the best cockpit I have ever experienced. The boat is docked in Lake Washington, east of Seattle, where we do fun races, not the more serious Puget Sound stuff. She planes pretty easily and we have hit 14.3 knots boatspeed on a sustained one mile plane in about 18-20 knots wind. Carl had mailed me interior plans (without dimensions), as Vance had only "finished" the center 10 feet, and not according to Carl's vision. I missed out on the park bench slats and instead got two ten foot cushioned settees with an Igloo cooler/step, and...well that's all folks. Carl had planned to have more like what the Synergy ended up with, which looks alot like the photo's you e-mailed. He said mine was to based on the Express 27 with changes because of the retractable keel trunk which is glassed to the bilge and underside of the deck. My next project is the interior and I really appreciate the photograhs. In particular, the forward partial bulkhead with the cutout for the forepeak. I'll be installing foam stringers and can glass them into the bulkhead. The rig on my boat is very similar to the E-27 and I have been using tuning tips for the E-27 to get mine up to snuff. Thanks again for the photos. They will be helpful for my winter project. Ben