Hi all— wanted to introduce myself as a new Express 27 owner. I recently bought Hull #2 "Verve" (formerly "Opus", soon to get a new name from me) from Ron Snetsinger and am looking to get up to speed sailing and racing this wonderful boat.

I may be a bit of an outsider here in that I've gotten into racing later in life (relatively speaking... I'm still in my mid-30's. I learned to sail as a kid and in college but never competitively). I owned and restored a 1974 Islander 30mkII over the past 8 years that started out as a great Bay cruising boat and, as my interests changed, gradually morphed into a pretty slow but fun PHRF racer. I started off doing SSS races singlehanded and eventually put together a small but loyal crew that did regular Beer Can races on Friday nights in Berkeley. We learned how to make the boat sail alright together and pushed it as hard as we could... ultimately too hard, as we lost the mast and rig a couple of months ago during a race on a particularly heavy Friday night in the slot. It was a bummer at first but I realized it was also a chance to start fresh in a boat that's more aligned with the racing I want to do next. Enter the Express 27! I made a post a few weeks back on the fleet website looking to buy one and 2 weeks later had a title for Hull #2 in hand.

Ron took good care of the boat over the years and it seems to be in great sailing condition, but I can't resist finding boat projects and tinkering with things here or there. I'm not a fan of the windward sheeting traveler and am interested in seeing how others have set that up. I also have a newfound paranoia about getting dismasted again so will be replacing all the standing rigging and would appreciate any other advice on what to be on the lookout for when I have the mast down. I love seeing all the ULDBs lined up in dry storage in Richmond, but my plan is to keep E27 Hull #2 in the water in the Berkeley Marina. I agonized over the thought of putting antifouling paint on a boat that's only ever been dry sailed, but I live right across the freeway from the marina here and I know I will sail and enjoy the boat so much more to have it literally 5 minutes away by bike.

I will probably start by doing as many BYC Friday Night Beer Can races as I can for the rest of the summer to get a feel for driving the boat and develop crew. I don't expect to have a competitive team put together for E27 fleet races for a little while, but that means I'm available for and would absolutely love to crew on other E27s for those events in the coming year to learn as much as I can. I'm 5'11" and around 170lbs if you have a spot for me on board! And alternatively if you want to join a new E27 crew sailing out of Berkeley, please get in touch. I have a few regulars who raced on my Islander but we are always looking for more.

Beyond racing, I have a 2-year-old daughter who keeps me busy and is ready to be introduced into the joys of sailing. If I get lucky, you may see us anchored out for an overnight camping trip in Ayala Cove or tooling around the Bay with the #4 up in the next few years. More realistically, this means my time on the water is limited by family obligations, but I have been able to carve out time to get out around once a week since she was a newborn.

So that's my story! Looking forward to meeting you all on land, on the water, or maybe even sailing in the same boat together soon.