Viper 640 Great Lakes Region – Bayview One-Design Regatta

The Great Lakes region opened their season this past weekend with the first of our summer series regattas. There were six Vipers that joined the other 130 boats and over 700 sailors at Bayview Yacht Club in Detroit for the Bayview One-Design Regatta. A club steeped in racing tradition, founder and organizer of the Port Huron to Mackinac Island Race, and with strong match racing and team racing programs, we could tell upon arrival that this was going to be a fun, competitive event.

We shared a circle with the J70’s sailing right in front of the club on the Detroit River. The persistent 3 kt current posed a challenge for RC and sailors alike in the very light conditions that prevailed on Saturday, limiting us to one race as a storm system chased us back to the club early in the afternoon.

The club had tents set up for live music, sponsored bars (Mount Gay Rum and Tito’s Vodka) making the onshore scene very active. The club put on an awesome southern BBQ for the hungry sailors tired from a busy day in the bar!

Sunday brought clear skies, cool temperatures and a northerly breeze. The RC was well organized and making the most of their auto-positioning robot marks, getting in 7 races in breeze which clocked right from gradient to thermal keeping us on our toes looking for the next big shift. Eric Vigrass, Lee Shuckerow and Lisa Vigrass on JACKPOT (294) showed their skills winning handily with five bullets and three seconds. Brian Johansen, Betsy Carson, Jonah Kember, and Liz Irish on NORTHERN HONEY BADGER (292) finished in second and Steve Chapman, Christophe Ledent and Nick Lounsbury on OSHUNMARE (288) in third.

Full results at https://yachtscoring.com/event_results_cumulative.cfm?eID=6196

More Photos: https://www.photoelement.com/BOD/2019-One-Design-Regatta-SAT-SUN/