Snake Bytes
February 24, 2025

In today’s Snake Bytes: 

2024 North Americans

Summer season in Australia in full swing

Sarasota Viper Winter Series Wrap-up – 2025-26 confirmed!

Last Call For Bacardi Invitational Regatta

The Miami Scorch Is Back

Dues Reminder

Upcoming Regattas

2024 North Americans

The 2024 North American’s were hosted by the Sarasota Sailing Squadron in December and also served as the first event in the 2024-25 Winter Series. With 30 boats registered, this was set to be a fun, highly competitive event.

The Squadron had been badly hit by two major hurricanes, so hosting a major event was a challenge given the extent of the damage to the club. Event organizer Travis Yates said ” When we offered to host the North American’s we were already working to recover from Hurricane Helene. After Hurricane Milton hit resulting in the loss of our crane, docks and much of the club facilities, we weren’t sure we could priceed but the Board chose to take on hosting the event as an incentive to get the club back on its feet. It was an extraordinary challenge!”

The club management and contractors pulled docks back into place, got the crane working, and the staff made miracles happen to ensure we were able to go sailing.

The volunteers, race management (thanks to Sail 22) and club staff ran a really good event with sporty winds on Friday and Saturday in the 15 gusting 22 kts providing exciting planing conditions and moderate 6-15 kts on Sunday to finish the 10 races for the event.

Team NESS led by Mark Zagol sailed to win the overall and corinthian trophies, followed by Jackpot with Brad Boston and Lee Shuckerow. Third place went to Boomslang led by Geoff Fargo.

Results: https://www.regattanetwork.com/event/28746#_newsroom+results

Enjoy the video recap here:

https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1AHrxR1C3v/

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WA VIPERS TRAVEL SOUTH TO GEOGRAPHE BAY RACE WEEK

The 15^th Geographe Bay Raceweek was held on the crystal clear waters off Busselton 200km south of Perth in February.  81 boats participated including 4 Vipers and 3 VX Ones sailing in a combined fleet.

Day 1 saw light winds and sunny conditions with 3 races completed.  The Vipers dominated the VX One with Vipers finishing the day in the top 3 positions.  Day 2 was similar to Day 1 with points again going to the Vipers.  Day 3 featured 20 knot easterly winds gusting to 28 knots.  Although upwind speeds were similar the VX One certainly had the edge off wind in the stronger conditions.  The VX One’s finished both races in the top two positions.

It was a fantastic regatta with good camaraderie between the Vipers and VX one crews.  The “Shentika” bar followed by Geographe Bay Yacht Club was the place in enjoy the sponsor drinks provided by Shelter Brewing and the West Wind Distillery.

Overall results after 7 races with one drop were:

Sarasota Winter Series

Marek Zaleski and Team Z win February

Team Robot Flamingo win the Series

The February 8-9, third and final stop of the Sarasota Viper Winter Series saw intense competition and impressive performances from the participating teams. Team Z, sailed by Marek Zaleski, father Chris Zaleski and Jacob Bradt emerged as the February winners. Glory Days secured second place and Team Robot Flamingo rounded out the podium.  Sunday turned into a sunny no-wind day limiting the event to a 4 race event.

The Sarasota Winter Series provided great racing over a wide variety of conditions with their customary superb organization led by Travis Yates. The Class extends our gratitude to Travis and the Squadron for hosting the Viper fleet this winter.

The Squadron has already confirmed the invitation to the Viper 640 fleet to return to Sarasota in 2025-26 for next year’s Winter Series, dates confirmed as December 13-14, January 10-11 and February 7-8. Mark your calendars!

February Results

The Sarasota Viper Winter Series, hosted by the Sarasota Sailing Squadron in conjunction with Sail22 and event co-PROs Keven Eiber and Ed Furry, scored 21 races in six amazing days on the water for the three event Series. The overall winner of the three-event series was the crew on Robot Flamingo ( Austin Powers, Mike Coe). The runners up in the overall series were Jay Rhame, Peter Beardsley onboard Glory Days. Mark Wheeler on Vapor Trails brought home third place overall for the winter series.

Event organizer Travis Yates wants to extend a special thanks to the Sarasota Sailing Squadron staff, Board, and membership for the opportunity to host the 11th running of the Sarasota Viper Winter Series at SSS. Huge thanks also go to the amazing volunteers that offer their valuable time, skills, and private vessels to help support the event. 

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BACARDI INVITATIONAL REGATTA IS JUST
AROUND THE CORNER

The 2025 Bacardi Invitational is lining up to be one of the best yet. The Viper 640 Class will be based in Miami’s Regatta Park starting with Check-in on Wednesday, March 5 followed by racing on beautiful Biscayne Bay Thursday, March 6 through Saturday, March 8. 18 Vipers are currently registered and there’s still time for more boats to sign-up.

Amazing racing, great venue, epic Bacardi hospitality. If you can make it to Miami for the Bacardi Invitational, you should!

Registration

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The Miami SCORCH Is Back!

Back by popular demand, the Miami Scorch is a fun race and luncheon, followed by a scorching spinnaker race with a Le Mans start on Wednesday, March 5. Details are being worked out with The Boater’s Grill in No Name Harbor so if you’re registered for Bacardi, look for info in the next few days. Tickets will be sold by the Class for lunches. Crews will pay for drinks are on a cash basis on site.

ARE YOU A CLASS MEMBER???

Renewals of Class dues are running ahead of last year, but there are still a boat load of you out there sitting on open dues invoices. If you’re an Owner or Associate Member with an open dues invoice, simply click on this link to open your profile and pay your dues: https://v6ca.wildapricot.org/Sys/Profile.  And, if you want to become an Associate Member of the Viper 640 Class for only $25, click HERE.

Please support your Class!

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Upcoming Regattas

All Viper 640 Class regattas can be found on the website HERE.

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Questions or comments? 

Have a something to share? Have a question or comment? How about a great Viper photo? Contact Viper 640 Class Administrator Jake Vick at viper640secretary@gmail.com.

Viper 640 Class Association Website:  www.Viper640.org   Facebook   Unsubscribe