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 In today’s Snake Bytes:
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The east coast summer season usually kicks off with the Helly Hansen Sailing World event in Annapolis. And this year was a great Annapolis regatta! The fleet of 18 entries was treated to 10 full races out on the Chesapeake Bay with classic tactical conditions. Playing currents, wind shift, and sea state all played a key part in getting around the course quickly. We saw winds from 6 kts on the low end up to 25 kts on the way out to the course on Sunday.
The racing was tight, dynamic, and fun! It’s such a pleasure sailing in the Viper fleet–the competition is intense, but not obnoxious, and as a fleet we had a great time off the water as well. From the Mt. Gay Cocktail making 2nd place award for Meow Mix, to closing down Davis’ Pub on Saturday night, to the fleet party at Bill Vicker’s house on Friday night, in which Wilson Stout again impressed with his ‘fire throwing’ acrobatics, we all had a good time. It was really special catching up with friends old and new and kicking off the sailing season properly!
Congratulations to Jimmy Praley, Max Vinocur and Austin Powers on Robot Flamingo for their convincing win with bullets in 6 out of 10 races!
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… takes flight in the Midwest
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The fleet of Mid-American Vipers (OK, MO, KS) is growing with the addition of three more Vipers at the Oklahoma City Boat Club (058, 148, 266). To help get this new fleet on the right path, we had the pleasure of hosting the Viper Class North American Governor, Peter Beardsley in March for a weekend coaching session on Lake Hefner. We were also joined by J Doug Jensen from Kansas.
A packed weekend of learning began with a morning spent going through the boats and ensuring that the all of those new to the fleet understood the finer points of Viper set up and tune. After lunch and launch the afternoon was spent learning how flat and with how little feel in the helm a Viper should be sailed with, many attitudes and skills were adjusted! In the evening a great dinner was hosted by Katie Baker (148) followed by a video review and debriefing.
Sunday started grey and cold, but windy! An uncomfortably short race course was utilized to push the teams’ crew work and coordination. Those processes were tested fully with some great sailing, mark rounding practice and a little swimming by the 266 team.
After lunch, debriefing and some outfit changes we were blessed with sunshine, perfect winds and Peter’s ever-present whistle. Forced to maneuver at the whistle’s behest the tacks became sharper and blow through gybes without upper spinnaker rotation were much improved.
After a final video review and many notes a great weekend of learning drew to a close.
Thank you to Peter Beardsley for coming to OKC and sharing his Viper knowledge and time with us. The support of all the fleet and class association helped solidify that we had made the right choice of fleet to join!
“MAVs” Mid American Vipers fleet page:
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61565401243846
Some photos from the event here:
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1JUYSyqMK6/
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Upcoming events:
Long Beach Race Week June 20-22
Nepean One Design June 21-22
New England Championship Boothbay July 19-20
Helly Hansen Sailing World Marblehead July 25-27
Great Lakes @ CORK Kingston Aug 15-17
2025 North American Championship, Hampton,VA October 1-6
Registration is open, 18 boats are already signed up. The club is ready to welcome a big turn-out, so we are looking forward to a fantastic event. Time to get yourself registered!
Tyler Moore has 2 boats available to charter at a very competitive rate, so if you live far from the east coast, consider a charter boat for this event! Contact Typer at tyler@rondarboats.com
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If you have a rule change you want to propose, now is the time to get your proposal to the Technical Committee. It’s your right, as a member of the class, to make suggestions of what might make the boat or the Class better.
Don’t know how to write up a rule change? No problem, contact someone on the Technical Committee and they will be happy to help out, provide advice and feedback and help shepherd your proposal through the process.
Your Technical Committee is: Cole Constantineau (Chair), Vir Menon, Travis Yates, Van Sheppard and Rod Beurteaux (AUS)
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The Lipton Challenge Cups are three regional Inter-Club fleet racing events dating from 1920 based on trophies donated by Sir Thomas Lipton. The Gulf Lipton was originally raced for in the Fish Class and has been raced in Vipers since 2016. The Gulf Lipton has a long history of fierce rivalries and an even fiercer disdain for Prohibition which was also introduced in 1920. One commodore in the Gulf explained it to a Yankee Viper owner as “Lipton, God, Family, Country …in that order”. The North East Lipton was inaugurated in 2024 open to clubs from the Canadian Maritimes to the Chesapeake. The host on May 17-18, 2025 was Seawanhaka Corinthian Yacht Club.
The format of the Lipton is unique. Each club is represented by one Viper and the helms must rotate after every race. Teams can change from Saturday to Sunday to encourage participation. The Lipton is characterized by close competition, good sportsmanship and a heck of a good party on Saturday evening. The racing is very competitive but it is also a rendezvous for one-design racers from different clubs and classes to meet old friends and make new friends.
Once again, the competition was brutally close. After four races on Saturday, American Yacht Club and Noroton Yacht Club were tied for first with equal points. On Sunday the breeze increased into the high teens and Shelter Island YC, New York YC and Seawanhaka made a charge for the front. Entering the penultimate race, only 1 point separated the top 3 teams. Noroton clung onto their lead, American slipped to 6th, Seawanhaka came in second and Shelter Island finished third with New York nipping at the heels of the top three. At the awards there was a shout out to Shelter Island where two of the team had never sailed Vipers before and the helm of the day was an older gentleman who usually races a Hereshoff 12 ½ and who won the second race of the day. It was a fantastic proof statement that good sailors from any class can step into a Viper and be immediately competitive (Editors note “It helps to have Peter Beardsley as your crew!)
Seawanhaka lived up to the Lipton tradition of providing a warm welcome to the teams after racing. The signature cocktail at Seawanhaka is called the Southside, but if that is not lethal enough, the inside move is to ask the bar to add a Rum float and call it a “Race Committee”.
The less said about the ride back across Long Island Sound on Volunteer after the party for the teams from NYYC, Riverside YC, Stamford YC and Noroton YC, the better. John Bainton drove and Eddie Wolfe chose the music!
There is a fun short video of the racing here
Noroton will be hosting the Lipton next year and we have set a goal to welcome over 20 clubs to the event. Please contact Justin Scott for early details.
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Member Dues
All Viper owners should have received numerous notes to pay their Class Dues. If you haven’t yet, please click on this link and sign-in to Wild Apricot using your e-mail address. VIPER DUES
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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 Secretary, Jacob “Jake” Vick at viper640secretary@gmail.com.
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