Update on North American Championships. .

 Snake Bytes
August 20, 2021

In today’s Snake Bytes:

North American Championships

Yes, the two 2021 North American Championships are going to happen! There’s a lot of talk about the Delta Variant but plans are in place that will enable us to hold the first Women’s Viper NAs on 10/2-3 and the open NAs on 107-10! These are going to two exceptional regattas so start firming up your plans today.

Here are some of the steps being taken to ensure these Championships will come off without a hitch:

• An amendment to the NoR is about to be released announcing that everyone at the regatta (sailors, RC, volunteers) must be fully vaccinated against Covid-19 at least two weeks before they arrive at Noroton Yacht Club.
• The Canadians WILL be there. Regardless of the boarder situations, Steve Chapman and the other savvy Canadian sailors are making contingency plans to fly down and, if necessary, commercially ship their boats or charter ones in the Northeast.
• There is a great deal on rooms at the Doubletree Hotel in Norwalk, CT, about 4 miles/12 minutes from Noroton Yacht Club. 789 Connecticut Avenue, Norwalk, CT 06854. We have 40 rooms reserved at $99/night double occupancy. Reservations can be made by calling (800) 492-7148 and requesting the group: Hotel property code: ORQDTDT, Group Name: Viper 640 – North American Championship. THERE IS NO PENALTY FOR CANCELLING ROOMS UP TO 24 HOURS AHEAD OF ARRIVAL—SO MAKE YOUR RESERVATIONS NOW.
• TD Ameritrade is joining the ranks of our sponsors helping make this an even better regatta experience.

Reminding you the schedule:

Women’s NAs

What are your next steps, you might ask? Well:

1. If you haven’t yet registered, do so today –
2. Women’s NAs HERE
3. North Americans HERE
4. If you’re registered but have yet to pay, please go to Yacht Scoring and do so today. The deadline for early bird payments has been moved to September 10, so don’t delay.
5. Make sure we know how many will be in your party so Noroton can get a better headcount for appropriately planning the social activities.
6. If you can’t race either NAs and would like to charter your boat, please contact Class Administrator Buttons Padin.

Annual General Meeting

Thursday night,
October 7 

During North American Championship

If you’re not at the NAs, there will be a Zoom link.

There are a number of issues to be voted upon during the AGM:

1. A proposed rule change creating a means to cleat the leeward GNAV from the windward side.
2. A proposed rule change limiting the aftermarket work that can be done on a non-damaged Viper.
3. A proposal creating an Honorary Life Membership.
4. A proposal creating an Associate Member classification for non-owner helms that would be optional for crew members who want to join the class.

A separate message will be sent to Viper owners who have renewed their membership for 2021. If you have not paid your 2021 dues yet, you can do so HERE or call Buttons Padin with your credit card information (914-834-8286 – M-F 9-5 ET). If you don’t know if you’ve paid yet, look for an online invoice in the next few days. Remember, only current Members can vote at the AGM.

Gulf Yachting Association’s
100th Lipton Challenge

Sept. 4-6

Southern Yacht Club

One hundred years of sailing for the Sir Thomas Lipton Interclub Challenge Cup will be celebrated this Labor Day weekend when teams from all over the Gulf Coast gather at Southern Yacht Club in New Orleans to race Viper 640s, the third generation of sailboats to compete for Sir Thomas’s trophy since 1920.

The Lipton Challenge was first raced in Fish Class sloops from 1920 to 1968, then in Flying Scots from 1969 until 2017, until the Viper became the Gulf Yachting Association interclub race boat in 2018. Since that year, GYA club Vipers have competed in twelve sanctioned championships annually that involve sailors of all ages and genders.

This year’s Lipton Challenge will feature, among other events, a re-enactment of the first Lipton Challenge between Southern and Pensacola Yacht Clubs and will be sailed in the Fish Class sloop, a reunion of everyone who has sailed on a Lipton Challenge team, and a closing gala to celebrate the first hundred years of competition for Sir Thomas’s trophy.

More details of the schedule, entries and results are at http://www.gyalipton100.org

Get your motors running!

There are lots of major Viper regatta to put on your calendar. It’s time to start making plans and get your motors running…

• Aug. 27-29 – Bayview One-Design Regatta, Bayview Yacht Club, Detroit, MI HERE
• Aug. 28-29 – New England Championship, Boston Yacht Club, Marblehead, MA HERE

Looking further ahead:

• Dec. 11-12, Jan. 15-16, Feb 19-20, Mar. 18-19 – Sarasota Viper Series, Sarasota Sailing Squadron, FL HERE   (info available soon)
• Oct. 13-16, 2022 – 2022 Viper North Americans, Gulfport Yacht Club, Gulfport, MS (info available soon)

Northern Honey Badger wins 2021 Nepean One-design Regatta

Nepean Sailing Club

Ottawa, ON

Aug 14-15, 2021

Vipers from all over Ontario and a new owner from Detroit made up the 12 entries at our first 2021 official two day Viper regatta, hosted by the Nepean Sailing Club in the country’s capital of Ottawa, Ontario Canada.  The forecast was calling for 15 knots on Saturday and less than five for Sunday which sounded like a good introduction for three new Viper owners’ first regatta. 

  The majority of the people arrived on Friday, with the furthest travelled boat “Surf” having come a whopping 1500km or 17 hrs. of drivetime from Thunder Bay.  Surf (74) was hoping to get in some training for the female crew for the Women’s North American’s in Noroton. Unfortunately while sailing out to the race course on Saturday they noticed an issue with the keel hold down bolts and decided to retire to prevent any further damage to the boat until a proper repair could be completed.   

    Saturday showed up with a vengeance with 25 knots of breeze, 4 races, many broaches and lots of smiles!  If you are going to learn to sail a Viper, it might as well be in 25 knots of breeze!  At the end of the day, Oshunmare (Steve Chapman-288) was in first with 3 bullets and a 3rd place finish, Northern Honey Badger (Brian Johansen-292) was in second place with 8 points and All fruits Ripe (Marina Maffessanti-127) in 3rd with 14 points.  Everyone came off the water, headed to the Viper pit and were greeted with a delicious frosty beverage.  The epic experiences of the day were the hot topics, focused on how everyone tuned the boats, how to depower and how much fun the Vipers were on the race course.  Wadjet (Van Sheppard – 211)  ended the day with the top speed of 17.2 knots and averaging 15.5 downwind.   After all the boats were cleaned up, we had the typical Viper de-brief on handling and tuning and discussed the upcoming North Americans. 

Northern Honey Badger may have mentioned a few times the importance of the tuning guides as a starting point for rig tune.  We discussed Surf’s keel issues and the lengths they had travelled to get to this regatta and without hesitation the group was able to place Surf’s crew on different boats to race on the Sunday.  With all the COVID protocols in place, individual BBQ dinners were served outside and everyone in the Viper pit continued in deep conversations about life, regattas and lessons from the day.  

  Sunday’s sunny weather brought a much lighter 5-7 knots from the north. The lighter conditions meant everyone’s burned out legs from hiking got a well deserved rest.  Race committee started right on time at 10am to get the first of 3 races off before the wind turned off at 1:30pm.  The right side of the course was heavily favored and with everyone aware of that, boat handling, boat speed and crew communication was the focus for the day.  Northern Honey Badger had two bullets and a third place which landed them the top spot, followed by Oshunmare with a 3rd, 4th and 6th (drop) for a second place overall followed by Van Sheppard and his two sons in third place with two 2 second place finishes and the final race win of the regatta landing them a third place overall.  The hospitality and friendly nature of the Nepean Sailing Club makes this annual event one of the Great Lakes premier regattas and hopefully the location of a future North Americans.     

Results

Questions or comments? 

Have a something to share? Have a question or comment? How about a great Viper photo? Contact Viper 640 Class Administrator Ed “Buttons” Padin at epadin@padesta.com.

Ed Padin: Viper 640 Class Administrator, Office: 914-834-8286  Address: 18 Normandy Lane, New Rochelle, NY 10804 
Viper 640 Class Association Website:  www.Viper640.org   Facebook   Unsubscribe