Mark Griffiths began importing the Viper 640 to the east coast of Australia last September.

Recently Mark and his crew completed their first two regattas in their Viper, "Circus School":

• The Geelong Race Week
• and last weekend, the State titles in New South Wales.

They were racing against some of the country’s hottest sportsboats using the Sportsboat Measuring System (SMS)

Marks first regatta, in January, was Geelong Race Week. 16 boats of 11 different designs competed. (Thompson 7’s, 8s, Shaw 650’s, Bethwaite 79er, Sports 8, magic 25, Elliots, etc)

Do you want your home club to host the Viper North American Championship?  The class is seeking expressions of interest for the 2015 and 2016 North American Championships by March 15, 2013.  To throw your hat in the ring, please send an email to the Class President (prez@viper640.org).  Recent and future NA venues include:

2008: Marblehead
2009: Stamford & Indian Harbor YCs (Western Connecticut)
2010: Miami
2011: Sarnia YC, Ontario
2012: Eastern YC, Marblehead
2013: Houston YC (Oct. 9-12, 2013)
2014: Alamitos Bay YC, Long Beach, CA (Sept. 2-7, 2014)

I trekked out to Long Beach for the second straight year for SCYA Midwinters.  Does two years make a habit?  Maybe, and as SCYA Midwinters shows, not all habits are bad.  The forecast was "terrible", so naturally that meant Santa Ana winds in the morning caused brief Race Committee panic, and a nervous Timbo wondering whether there'd be any sailing at all.  I thought Southern California people were supposed to be relaxed?  The seabreeze filled, though "only" to 10-12 knots in the afternoon.  The sea lions were angry and the winds were shifty, and the temperature was "too warm" in the mid 70s.  Did that stop anyone from serving hot chili after racing?  No. Did we "only" manage four races?  Yes.  #CaliforniaSailingProblems.

Can you tell that Viper season is nearly upon us?  Hopefully the flurry of activity in the class forums and on the front page of the website in the past week has given some hint.  The season always starts first in Arizona and Southern California, and you can't talk about Viper sailing in those places without mentioning Class Treasurer Tony Chapman and Technical Committee member Tim Carter - both have been major influences on the west coast Viper scene, and Timbo's efforts as a Viper sparkplug has resulted in a big surge in Viper activity in SoCal, along with his home club of Alamitos Bay YC in Long Beach, CA hosting the 2014 Viper North American Championship.  To learn more about the man they call "Timbo," step inside the latest edition of Better Know a Viperer...  (above photo copyright Dennis St. Onge)