including several stints as its

W hen HOT BOAT test driver Bob Brown climbed editor. His articles have

appeared in more than 20 into the seat of the 24-foot Schiada Mini Cruiser magazines. He currently

to take his rotation behind the wheel at our recent spends as much time as

invitational bowrider tests, you could almost see the Northern California’s lakes

gears turning, as his memory jogged to a different time. Shasta and Whiskeytown.

Like this one, Brown’s own Schiada had also been a 24-foot vee-bottom. His was a flat-deck version of Schiada’s earliest 24- foot tooling, the first one out of the mold, specially built by Leonard Schiada after a season of offshore racing had ravaged Brown’s 21 -footer. Of course, those were the days before the pad had found its way onto the hull’s underside. The year was 1970, and Brown, and his father, Roy, were poised on the cusp of one of the most dominant reigns in the history of West Coast racing.

You’d never know to look at him today— there are no visible scars or limps to suggest such a varied and lengthy racing career—but Brown raced a good 15 boats in more than a dozen classes through the years, everything from drag boats to circle jets and outboards. Even through all of that, the Schiada years were special, and a hint of that showed as Brown put the 2000 Schiada through the test paces.

Brown and his dad had beaten down their 21-footer in 1969, subjecting it to one of the roughest racing seasons in Pacific Offshore Power Boat Racing Asso ciation (POPBRA) history. Leonard Schiada got quite sick of seeing it at his modest Gardena, California, shop. “It just happened that every race that year was particularly rough,” Brown recalls. “The boat was pretty fast, and we ran it hard, with a lot of horsepower. We just went out and busted it up every race. I remember bringing it back to Leonard with the bulkheads crushed, the entire deck split, things like that.”

Leonard suggested a bigger boat. The Browns agreed. The result was the creation of the first-ever flat-deck version of the 24- footer, a platform that Schiada had begun to produce in a twin-step pleasure version.

In 1970, the Browns took delivery of their

new Ring Leader(both Brown and his dad

were in the class ting business), which was

a heavy, fiberglass hull with a deck lovingly

carved and crafted by Schiada. They paid

a total of $7,000 for the fully-rigged race

OBSERVER’S SEAT

BY KEVIN SPAISE

boat, less motor. Their high-compression, 468 Chevrolet (it ran 12:1 pistons), built by Paul Pfaff back in the day of good pump gas, spooled up about 600 horsepower.

The footsteps heard by the Browns belonged to none other than Bud Bailey and Ed DeLong, formerly of Campbell, who had just introduced their own 24- rooter into the mix. The timing sparked the beginning of one of the fiercest rivalries in West Coast powerboating: Spectra vs. Schiada. You can still feel the friction today, if you get between their owners.

Father and son soon found themselves locked in a very special zone. They won three West Coast championships with their beloved Schiada. “It was a special time for both of us,” says Brown. “Some of the most fun we ever had.”

The boat was nearly invincible as a ski tow. It won the Catalina Ski Race an incredible three times in five years, adding a second and a third—making it the most consistent of any boat in the event’s storied history in a five-year period. None Dther than Chuck Stearns skied behind it, winning two of his Catalina cups from that vantage point. Jeff Wooten skied behind it for another trophy. The boat was running in the upper 70-mph range off the breakwater. Strong stuff for three lecades ago.

The Schiada is a smoother drive today, naturally. Like all of our team, Brown is enamored with the way the new Schiada feels and drives. But he also longs for the old one, which is said to be in good shape and good hands with ski racer Mike King. “I think you got more directional stability with the V-drive boat,” says Brown. “But the boat itself really has a similar ride and feel, even though the bottom is different.”

We thought we saw Brown fall out of the test loop, and circle around our test course for a few extra-hot laps—a move that’s generally good for a hail of razzing around the dinner table later. We cut Brown some slack. It was the Schiada. U