- Vipers in the Gulf May 20, 2021
Southeast Regional VP Cathy Cromartie forwarded these two photos from the GYA’s Spring Regatta at Buccaneer Yacht Club. Here is a group of juniors from Fairhope YC racing a Viper 640 during that regatta.
At the GYA Capdevielle Spring Regatta, held at Buccaneer Yacht Club (Mobile, AL) May 15-16, the courses included not only Capdevielle Vipers but also Open Vipers and the Sears Quarterfinals – sailed in the Viper 640. Nineteen Viper 640s were on the start line. Five all-youth teams competed in the Sears Quarterfinals and several Capdevielle teams were sailed by youth. Pictured is the Fairhope Yacht Club (Fairhope, AL) all youth Capdevielle team of 12-year-old Cruz at the helm with crew Chandler, Ava, and Nate.
This second photo is presented purely for entertainment purposes. The Buccaneer YC channel is not the easiest to get out of with jetties on ...
...read more - Better Know a Viperer: Rachel Beardsley May 13, 2021
Welcome back to another great installment of “Better Know a Viperer”. This week we’re super excited to sit down with a pillar of the fleet: Rachel Beardsley! If you’ve been to any major Viper regatta the last 6+ years, you will have undoubtedly met Rachel holding down logistics in the boatyard or at the afterparty. She’s also a key reason as to why more often than not you may see an image of a Great Scott! spinnaker crossing the finish line before you (ie: William Wallace, Scott Bakula, Doc, Mary Queen of Scots). In fact, myself, when once working as the forward crew for a 6x NA champ in the class, was told on a light air downwind run “just do what Rachel does!” I instantly knew what was meant, but am not sure I actually was able to execute ...
...read more - Tyler Moore, Vir Menon and Javier Rotger win Annapolis NOOD May 12, 2021
Reported by Peter Beardsley
May 8-9 was a pretty nice weekend in Annapolis. Eleven Vipers on the line. The fleet opted to only sail Saturday-Sunday, which we all felt smart about after a gale blew through on Friday and the RC canceled Friday racing early in the morning. The high winds were a reminder to always tie your Viper to the trailer at all times, as one boat blew off its trailer and suffered the dreaded trailer fender fang bite. Luckily it was repaired in time to race Saturday morning.
Saturday morning started with puffs into the high teens and maybe even a few puffs into the low 20s. Some Vipers were shaking off the cobwebs after minimal one-design racing in 2020, and took a bit longer to rig and launch (the RC moving the start time up to 10 am probably ...
...read more - Have you ordered your bow numbers yet? May 11, 2021
If not, click on this link to order yours: https://v6ca.wildapricot.org/event-3987541
Note, they take up to two weeks to get so don’t delay.
Questions, email Buttons Padin.
...read more - Better Know a Viperer: Alex Schon April 27, 2021
In our next installment of BKAV (Better Know a Viperer), let us introduce to you Alex Schon, who is one of the driving forces and sparkplugs behind the emerging fleet in South Africa! So as we emerge this year from our COVID hibernation and dream about sailing in amazing places, we should be dreaming of sailing with Alex on the Vaaldam! Alex aims to have a Viper worlds in South Africa and over the next year or two, as well as 4 more Vipers in the country in the next year or two. He’s planning a big marketing push and is working to organize the South Africa “Viper Shootout” that will attract the top sailors in the country (ie: folks from Americas Cup campaigns, Volvo Ocean Races of past, and the TP52 circuit). Alex and his fellow Viperers made the ...
...read more - Capdevielle Racing Underway for 2021 April 5, 2021
The GYA has its full schedule of Capdevielle Regattas posted with the New Orleans’ Mardi Gras Race Week kicking off the season. Of the eight Capdevielle boats competing, Buccaneer Yacht Club took the day followed by Southern and Pensacola Yacht Clubs.
In the Viper open division, five boats raced and Nick Lovell from Southern Yacht Club took top honors.
Results
Full Capdevielle Schedule
...read more - Geoff Fargo walks away with San Diego NOOD April 5, 2021
The 2021 Helly Hensen San Diego NOOD was held March 19 – 21. The regatta boasted a fleet of eight Viper 640s, which was the largest gathering of Viper640’s on the West Coast since the World Championship during the summer of 2019, according to Tim Carter, the US West Coast Viper Class Representative.
The event drew in new boat owners and teams as well as more seasoned Class members, such as Geoff Fargo’s Boomslang, which showed a dominant performance finishing in First Place overall, winning the last six races of the regatta.
Taking to the San Diego’s South Bay nestled between the Coronado Isthmus to the west and a fleet of US Navy Ships docked to the east, the one-design classes in attendance were treated to premier sailing conditions over the long weekend. The flat water, cool air (for Southern California!) and ...
...read more - Better Know a Viperer: Eleni Asimacopoulos April 1, 2021
Who better than to re-boot our beloved BKAV series (Better Know a Viperer) than our one and only Eleni Asimacopoulos! If you’ve been to a Viper regatta anywhere in eastern North America over the last 6-7 years, undoubtedly you’ve seen Eleni holding down the middle position on #39 (Patched Up), #235 (Meow!), or now via interfleet marriage (yay!): Porkchop (#166). Increasingly over the last 2 seasons, she’s also been working on her chops at the helm as she prepares for the 2021 Women’s Championship in Noroton, CT. Lets jump right in to the interview:
Name: Eleni Asimacopoulos
Viper sailed: Patched Up (#39), Meow! (#235), Porkchop (#166)
Home port: Marblehead, Massachusetts
So, first thing, what’s it like marrying a fellow Viperer?
It’s awesome! There are no arguments over whether to go to regattas or not (the answer is almost universally yes). And neither of us gets ...
...read more - Support the Geoff Ewenson EWE Spirit Foundation February 9, 2021
Help support the EWE Spirit Foundation that Mary set-up in Geoff’s memory. Everything that Geoff Ewenson owned has the EWE stenciled on it. Now you can, too, with an EWE sticker for your car. After all, “What would EWE do?”
For more information, to donate, and to get some great EWE Spirit swag, visit ewespirit.org
...read more - New Viper 640 Class Officers Elected February 6, 2021
During the two Annual General Meetings on Saturday, January 23, a new slate of Viper 640 Class officers were elected to office. In the International Class AGM, Steve Chapman (Alcove, Quebec, CAN) assumed the role of International Class Chairman. Steve, who has served as the North American Regional President President replaced Justin Scott (Darien, CT, USA) in this leadership position. Steve has done an excellent job as the NA President and is the ideal person to be assuming this role as he has deep knowledge of the Class operations…plus is a keenly active Viper sailor.
In passing of the torch, the Class thanked Justin for his decades-long journey on behalf of the Class. Justin orchestrated the creation of the Class Association, the purchase of the design and molds from the original designer, secured Rondar Raceboats as a new builder, and guided ...
...read more - South African Viper 640 Fleet Update November 11, 2020
South African Viper 640 Fleet Report
As Reported By Alec Schon, Lake Deneys YC
SA Vipers post Long Beach Worlds
After we had finished the 2019 Worlds in Long Beach, CA, most of us spent a couple of days exploring California. My partner and I took the scenic route to San Francisco and spent a lavish night there before our trip home.
After we arrived back in a now much warmer South Africa, it was straight into preparation for Keelboat Week which takes place at Vaaldam (our local “pond” which is about 100km south of Johannesburg). There were 19 boats in the gold fleet which in numbers was dominated by J22’s. Nevan Lucas, Steve Haywood and Yolande van der Vyver entered on Antidote 118, whereas Rafiki 290 was sailed by Marco Seitz (my trusty midshipman), hid dad Wolf and our mutual friend Dirk. This ...
...read more - Eight Bells: Geoff Ewenson October 15, 2020
It is with great sadness that we learned that we lost our friend Geoff Ewenson to a massive heart attack yesterday morning, October 14 at the very young age of 50. Since joining the Viper Class 5+ years ago, Geoff and his wife Mary have been two of the sparkplugs that have helped the Viper Class remain vibrant, active, and fun. Together, Geoff and Mary started the now-booming Viper fleet in Annapolis. Together they loved going to Miami for the Bacardi Cup and the Sarasota Winter Series, they traveled to all the major regattas, won a bunch of them, and were on the podium for almost all they entered, including a second place finish at the 2019 Worlds in Long Beach, and a third place finish at the 2018 North Americans in Kingston.
Then, suddenly yesterday we lost one of our ...
...read more - American Yacht Club’s High Performance Regatta October 12, 2020
October 10-11, 2020
2020 has been a challenging year for the NYC tristate area, for our country, and for the many people and families that have been personally affected by the pandemic. Viper sailing has been collateral damage to some extent compared to our usual turnouts with some folks away and others unwilling to sail with non-quaranteams. So, it was nice to end the season on a high note this weekend with the return of the Vipers to the High Performance Regatta f/k/a the HPDO. AYC “hosted” by providing RC and trophies, but none of it would have been possible without the 13 Vipers who decided to compete and the Larchmont Yacht Club flag officers that allowed visiting teams to launch from LYC (non-AYC members were not allowed at AYC).
The conditions ended up being close to perfect both days, with something ...
...read more - Team “Big Rooster” Wins 2020 Annapolis NOOD August 31, 2020
Sailing in Annapolis in August is always challenging. Plug in the passing of a tropical depression and the current pandemic, and the conditions are properly difficult.
The one out-of-town team that came for the Annapolis NOOD was Tyler and Jane Moore’s “Big Rooster” with Hampton native turned Annapolitan Austin Powers and his girlfriend Kayla Harper. The remainder of the fleet was made up of the local Annapolis gang.
Over the span of three days. the Vipers were treated to 10 races in a range of conditions.
Friday was generally light to moderate and had a massive range of wind directions as the weather tried to play tricks on the race committee. With the fleet set up off Greenbury Point, the breeze oscillated from the Severn River to the Bay. The fleet was very mixed with everyone having challenges getting the shifts right. At ...
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