Latest US News


  • Gulfport Yacht Club locked and loaded for upcoming North Americans September 27, 2022Gulfport Yacht Club locked and loaded for upcoming North Americans
    Three Viper 640 North American Championships are set to begin in less than a month. As was discussed in the North American Executive Committee meeting earlier this week, the sailing and social plans GYC has in place make this a “must sail” event…and now that’s even easier than you may think. Don’t want to tow your boat to Mississippi? Turns out you really don’t have to. Sam Vasquez at GYC has between three and five Vipers available for charter and very, very reasonable rates. Get your crew, book a hotel or AirBnB, and come sail this year’s North American Championships. Open teams, Women, Youth, they can accommodate all. To arrange to charter a boat, contact Sam Vasquez. Information and online registration: Women’s/Youth NAs – October 15-16, 2022 North American Championship – October 19-23
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  • Announcing the 2022-23 Southern Yacht Club Winter Viper 640 Series July 25, 2022Announcing the 2022-23 Southern Yacht Club Winter Viper 640 Series
    Thanks to the Viper team at Southern Yacht Club in New Orleans, LA, and SYC Viperer Ricky Welch, we are pleased to announce a four-part Viper 640 Winter Series to be sailed on Lake Pontchartrain, the site of the 2023 Viper 640 Worlds SYC is hosting next March. Registration is open and you have to apply to each weekend separately, but here’s the schedule and the Notice of Race with links to individual weekend’s sign-ups. Schedule Four individual regattas are scheduled for the series: Event #1……………December 10-11, 2022……….. Event Link Event #2 …………..January 7-8, 2023 ……………… Event Link Event #3……………February 4-5, 2023 …………… Event Link Event #4……………March 4-5, 2023 ……………….. Event Link The racing schedule for each regatta will be as follows: Saturday 0800-0900…………Registration 0900 …………………Competitors Briefing 1030 …………………First Warning Signal Sunday 1030 …………………First Warning Signal 1430 …………………No Warning Signal after this time Weather permitting, they will attempt to run 6 races per weekend.
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  • Ed Feo, Chuck Tripp, and Kevin Taugher win Viper PCCs at LBRW June 28, 2022Ed Feo, Chuck Tripp, and Kevin Taugher win Viper PCCs at LBRW
    Long Beach Race Week/PCCs, by Steve Bloemeke, ABYC Having just completed Long Beach Race Week (and Pacific Coast Championships) with Friday’s windspeed of 16-18 knots, and 18-20 on Saturday; both days with chop and steep wave sets, I thought that it would be fun to take a poll of the fleet and ask – “How would you describe sailing a Viper 640 in 18-20 knots of wind in a healthy sea state?” The replies were not exactly what I expected; some quite colorful. In the interest of keeping things sufficiently reader-friendly, the basic response was that sailing upwind was not delightful and too long, and downwind being exhilarating and not nearly long enough!  Sunday’s last day of racing was quite mundane with 5-7 knots in the first race, with 12-14 knot build in the final race which was welcome to many ...
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  • Consistency pays off as Mark Wheeler wins Southern Bay Race Week June 27, 2022Consistency pays off as Mark Wheeler wins Southern Bay Race Week
    Southern Bay Race Week June 2-5, 2022 Hampton (VA) Yacht Club Mark Wheeler, sailing with Charles Brewer and Austin Powers, gave a lesson in consistent sailing during this year’s SBRW. Tossing an eighth, in the nine scored races, Wheeler and crew posted five firsts, three seconds and a seventh for 18 points…a nine-point lead over Justin Morris in second with 27 points and Peter Ill in third with 31 points, one ahead of Henry Amthor.   Henry got off to a fast start and was winning after the first day; however, when Mark turned on the after burners in his VAPOR TRAILS with two bullets on Day 2, the lead changed hands for good. Also sailing an excellent regatta was Justin Morris winning three races and placing second twice. Mark Wheeler had been close to winning in the past, but this regatta was his going away. ...
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  • Grace Howie Wins 2022 Viper 640 Women’s Atlantic Coast Championship June 26, 2022Grace Howie Wins 2022 Viper 640 Women’s Atlantic Coast Championship
    Day 2/Final Recap June 26, 2022 Noroton Yacht Club, Darien, CT   From the moment the first sailors arrived at Noroton Yacht Club this morning, it was “iffy” if there would be any sailing. Flags all around were hanging vertically…but the forecasts said we’d have wind sooner than later. Oh, well, that didn’t happen. Despite the Harbor Hurricane starting at about 1100, the predicted southerly never filled in on the Soud. It was a tease as for one moment it looks promising only to have any progress moving away. It was like Charlie Brown with Luch holding the football! At 1300 PRO Howard Seymour and Event Chair Justin Scott blew three horns and hoisted November over Alpha. Saturday’s three-race results stand with New Yorkers Grace Howie and Elizabeth Hupp sailing with Louisiana sailors Max Allen and Andrew Brennan winning the Championship with a 1-2-1 scoreline for four ...
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  • Grace Howie leading Viper 640 Women’s ACCs after Day 1 June 25, 2022Grace Howie leading Viper 640 Women's ACCs after Day 1
    Viper 640 Women’s Atlantic Coast Championship – Day 1 Recap June 25, 2022 Noroton Yacht Club, Darien, CT Here’s another regatta that felt the ongoing impact of Covid-19. Of the original 14 boats registered to sail I this Championship, only 11 made it to the starting line today due to numerous sailors testing positive for Covid. For those that sailed, however, there were three races and the Race Committee under the leadership of PRO Howard Seymour wrenched all they could from the initially filling and then dying wind. Despite the “Harbor Hurricane” everyone felt in the morning, the Long Island Sound was a wind dead zone. After a 2-hour postponement, racing got off in a 6-7 knot southwesterly wind. The originally set windward mark quickly turned into a near port tack fetch as the wind backed 30 degrees. Reset marks progressively moved left throughout the ...
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  • June 23, 2022
    Below are the Booking Links for both groups to begin making reservations. Should guests wish to stay for the duration, they would need to make 2 separate reservations… Book your group rate for Women’s Youth Viper 640 North American Championship   Book your group rate for Viper 640 North American Championship COURTYARD GULFPORT BEACHFRONT 1600 E Beach Blvd. Gulfport, MS 39501
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  • Ewenson, Cox, and Hillmyer win 2022 Viper 640 Atlantic Coast Championship May 20, 2022Ewenson, Cox, and Hillmyer win 2022 Viper 640 Atlantic Coast Championship
    May 13-15, 2022 PHOTOS Courtesy of Spinsheet Magazine Sailed as part of the 2022 Helly Hansen Sailing World Regatta Series, this year’s Viper ACCs were a light-air challenge, requiring expert boat handling, tactics, and the ability to change gears. With Annapolis Yacht Club as the primary host club, most of the Vipers were across the Sevrin River at Eastport Yacht Club. If you looked at YachtScoring a few days before the event, you would have seen 27 Vipers registered, but thanks to everyone’s friend, Covid-19, a number of boats had to withdraw at the last moment creating a number of crew swaps resulting in hybrid crews. The plan was to race three days sharing the same circle with the J/70s and J/30s. Interestingly, the J/70s have a 5-knot minimum wind speed for starting a race, and, at one point on Friday, when the wind ...
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  • Vipers in Miami – The Bacardi Invitational 2022 March 31, 2022Vipers in Miami – The Bacardi Invitational 2022
    Sunshine, warm weather and a strong sea breeze on Biscayne Bay welcomed a very international group of Viper sailors in Miami for the Bacardi Invitational Regatta. Add in the Bacardi hospitality and the night life in Coconut Grove and you have all the elements of a great sailing event. We started the week with the traditional Miami Scorch, a fun race across Biscayne Bay to the Boaters Grill where we were warmly welcomed with cold beer and Cuban style seafood. The return race (LeMans start) showed valiant seamanship as teams worked to fix inter-team attempts at minor sabotage while flying spinnakers out of the tiny harbor (the Mambo King turned into the Mambo Joker….). The visiting teams from Ireland (perennial Bacardi participant Anthony O’Leary and his crew of Clive O’Shea and Neal Fulcher) on 296 and Italy (Oriano Lanfranconi and Giulia Puccetti, who ...
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  • North Americans Registration Now Open March 30, 2022North Americans Registration Now Open
    Registration now open for the 2022 Viper 640 North American Championship. Event Details Coed Register Here Women’s & Youth Register Here
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  • 2022 Bacardi Invitational Regatta Final Recap March 18, 20222022 Bacardi Invitational Regatta Final Recap
    Here is another amazing video from Miami courtesy of Skylla Filmworks. This really sums up what it is like to sail a Viper in Miami!   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YqK6jtNABNQ  
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  • Bacardi Invitational Regatta ’22 – Day 1 recap – 2 videos March 11, 2022Bacardi Invitational Regatta '22 - Day 1 recap - 2 videos
    Front of fleet results were spread around, with a fairly even performance amongst the top boats on day one. Three races down and their 1,4,5 scorecard gives Caterpillar’ helmed by Peter Ill the lead. ‘Evil Hiss’ who finished 2nd in 2020, under the expert helm of Mary Ewenson raced a solid series, picking up a win in race 2 to end the day in nd. Escaping from the snow in Ottawa is Canada’s ‘Jackpot’ skippered by Van Sheppard, Brad Sheppard and Quintin Gallon, who have only recently started sailing together and compete for the first time in Miami. Crew member Quentin Gallon grinned, “We are loving the sunshine and loving the people!” “We had a phenomenal breeze all day,” continued Gallon on their fifth overall. “Awesome races. As we sailed throughout the day we just got better. We found our starts were our key thing, just bow down ...
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  • Vipers in Miami for Bacardi Invitational Regatta – Video Preview March 10, 2022Vipers in Miami for Bacardi Invitational Regatta - Video Preview
    A Sweet Sixteen fleet of Vipers starting racing at the Bacardi Invitational Regatta today with results found HERE. Check back every day for a video update.
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  • A Down East Adventure in Vipers March 2, 2022A Down East Adventure in Vipers
    If you are among that cadre of Viper sailors who like to venture to beautiful parts of the world to race sail boats, and you are not averse to throwing in a couple of tablespoons of adventure on top, then the Viper trip to Maine this summer might interest you. A group of Vipers is heading up to the Boothbay Harbor Yacht Club Regatta on July 23rd -24th with the option to join a 2-day Viper Cruise and Scorch across Muscongus Sound from Boothbay to Port Clyde on July 25-26.   The Boothbay Harbor Yacht Club Regatta combines one design racing with the Shipyard Classic Yachts Regatta.  There will be some great one design racing surrounded by some of the most spectacular vintage racing yachts on the eastern Seaboard. Marylee : a Herreshoff One Design NY 40 foot class sloop built in 1926 is ...
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