- 2010 Long Beach Race Week July 1, 2010
Written by Stacey Loula aka Venomiss
Long Beach Race Week 2010 had one of the biggest turn outs yet with 144+ boats in
18 different classes! That being said, the Viper class saw boats on the line including boats from Arizona and Texas with crews stretching as far away as Canada and Rhode Island.
Here’s some nice coverage from the Ullman Website
Tight racing in our fleet saw 1st-4th position within 2 points of each other going into the last day and though the “Long Beach Doctor” wasn’t in most of the weekend, we still had decent enough breeze to make for some wild fun rides at times. The start lines were fierce, and a particular instance on Saturday stands out as we had one of those epic “uh oh….” moments one minute before the start gun when our tiller extension broke. ...
...read more - Sailing with Grace – Savannah, Ga MacIntosh Cup Regatta Report May 26, 2010
Written by Jay Harrell
On the heels of big fleets and big wind in Miami and Charleston, I invited Scott Findlay to come sail the SYC MacIntosh Cup. He had mentioned before that he would like to get his daughter on a Viper, so I suggested that he bring her along too. The Mac is probably the most cozy and personal Viper regatta anywhere, so perfect for beginners and kids. Savannah local and Viper technical chair David Guggenheim puts on a great event, helping everyone with lodging and logistics and throwing a great party Saturday night. The whole thing is easy and comfortable on land and with great racing on the water. Grace, a 10 year old 4th grader, had only sailed a few times, but she was willing to bear a 7+ hour drive from Boca to Savannah for a chance to sail with ...
...read more - Wickford, RI Regatta Report May 24, 2010
Thanks Skip Whyte and crew for running a delightful, down-to-earth regatta! Viperers, Wickford definitely puts on a worthy event.
Five Vipers made it out, all regional boats. Despite being unusually becalmed on Sunday, we got off four good races on Saturday in 8-12knots. The water was just short of flat, with tidal currents and land-influenced wind shifts making for some good tactical racing. (Too bad my boat, Bennett #56, keeps sinking… LOL still working on sealing that keel trunk…)
In fact we caught a shift just right on the first race and were substantially leading the fleet back to the finish from the weather mark, when we and another boat did what one could only call a failure to read the SI’s, thinking we were finishing when we were expected to do another lap. Sigh… rookie mistake.
The RC kept things moving all ...
...read more - Snake Charmed April 20, 2010
Written by Drew Harper
– by Tripp Westbrook (crew on #129, “Animal”)
As I sit here typing a few weeks after returning from Miami Sailing Week and competing in the 2010 Viper640 North American’s, I can’t help but notice that I’m still grinning from ear to ear. This wasn’t my first time on a Viper, but it was my first time at a major Viper event.
As my blistered hands, sore body and battered liver will attest, it did not disappoint.
This years’ event was sailed out of Coral Reef Yacht Club on beautiful Biscayne Bay and sponsored by Bacardi Rum. Twenty-one Vipers from as far as Great Britain, Canada and Bermuda lined up to vie for the title of North American Champion.
Walking around the dock, you’d get the impression that this was almost one big Wednesday night beer can event. Teams ...
...read more - 2010 San Diego NOOD March 24, 2010
Written by Drew Harper
2010 San Diego NOOD – Stacey Loula, AZ Vipers
It goes without saying that Coronado Yacht Club is a great host for SD NOODS and the South Bay playing field is fantastic with flat water and decent breeze! We had a good number of boats there including Buccaneers, I14’s, Tigers, Ultimate 20’s, and Vipers. You would think with all of those boats, mainly the bigger Tigers, that it would be a bit crowded on the course. However, everyone played well with others and we were especially thankful to have the Tigers around for tows!
Saturday saw breezes in the double digits and RC were able to get at least 4 races off for some of the fleets, but the Vipers only saw 3 races that day. It’s a shame as we had good breeze and could ...
...read more - EFG International and Viper 640 Class Association Announce Pan American Championship Circuit February 13, 2010
Written by Justin Scott
EFG International, the international private bank, has joined forces with the Viper 640 Class Association to create the EFG Bank Pan-American Viper Championships. In 2010 the Championships will comprise a circuit of three Viper 640 regattas, as follows: – Miami, March 8th-13th, Viper North American Championships at Bacardi Miami Sailing Week. – Kingston, Ontario, August 26th-29th, Viper Canadian and Atlantic Coast Championships at Canadian Olympic Regatta at Kingston (CORK). – Rye, New York, October 9th-10th, the concluding regatta and award ceremony at American Yacht Club’s High Performance Dinghy Open. The Championships will provide a grand prix circuit and promote a Pan-American concept, encouraging sailors from across the continent to join in friendly competition. Teams from Canada, the USA, the Caribbean and Europe will be participating.
Keith Gapp, Head of Strategic Marketing & Communications, EFG International:
“It is exciting to ...
...read more - Orange Bowl Int’l Youth Regatta: Foiling international Moth sailboat & Viper makes sailors drool January 27, 2010
Written by Jeff
Yup, you read it right. According to BYM News……..The kids at the Orange Bowl were drooling over the Viper and the Moth. Mom and Dad, isnt it time you were sailing something that your kids find exciting?
BYM News Wednesday, 30 December 2009 :- Orange Bowl Int’l Youth Regatta, Foiling international Moth sailboat & Viper makes sailors drool
Biscayne Bay was definitely the center of Miami’s action between the competing Orange Bowl boats, many coach boats and spectators and recreational boats (motor and sail) streaming down the Intercoastal. A foiling international Moth sailboat and a Viper were flying through the fleet making all the sailors drool. As the Orange Bowl boats sailed in after a long day, the sun was setting and a full Miami moon was already up in the sky. There was also a display of ...
...read more - Viper West Coast Mid-Winter Championships January 23, 2010
Written by John Riddell – Desert Viper
Arizona Yacht Club – Birthday Regatta – 2010 – Leukemia Cup Weekend
Known more for its phenomenally beautiful ‘Par 5s’ the likes of what Troon North and the TPC Championship course offer than for roll-tacking and gybing, Phoenix, AZ is not widely known as a sailing venue. Despite this, however, it is home to the rebirth of the Viper 640 in the western US and just last weekend served as the field of battle for 10 Vipers fighting for the first points of the 2010 season and the first ever ownership of the highpoints kite, “le maillot jaune” (the Yellow Kite) during Arizona Yacht Club’s annual Birthday Regatta. On Lake Pleasant, there is no such thing as a ‘brisk and steadily growing breeze from 270 degrees, clocking right’, as is on any given ...
...read more - 2010 North American Championships at Bacardi Miami Race Week – March 10-13 November 17, 2009
Written by Regatta Committee
The Bacardi Cup is a truly legendary sporting event in the world of yachting. The first Bacardi Cup was held in 1927 in Havana. The annual competition for the Trofeo Bacardi, also known as the Cup of Cuba, quickly became the most prestigious regatta on the international circuit for the Star Class. The tradition of competition and hospitality continued until political unrest forced the Bacardi Cup to find a new home in 1962 at the Coral Reef Yacht Club in Miami, where under the patronage of the Bacardi family it has flourished ever since. The winners’ roster reads like a who’s who of sailing greats.
In 2010 for the first time in “Bacardi” history, the event organizers decided to invite other Classes in addition to the Star to participate in an event that will be called ...
...read more - Black Mamba wins SEC. November 12, 2009
Written by Gary Umberger
David Guggenheim and the Crew on “Black Mamba” Win the South Eastern Championship for 2009.
David Guggenheim won the hotly contested South Eastern Championship for 2009 (not to be confused with the Securites and Exchange Commission). He sailed a great series and is a true champion. With a major win at the ACC’s (Charleston Race Week) and the McIntosh in Savannah he was propelled to become the SE champion for 2009. David had several crew members throughout the series that helped him achieve this great accomplishment. I know he will be back to defend his title in 2010.
We had several folks that were in contention right up to the final race @ Lake Norman that made the series a lot of fun to compete in.
The entire series started back in November 2008; at beautiful Lake Sinclair ...
...read more - Lake Norman -CKOD November 11, 2009
Written by Attendees at Lake Norman
We have just come back from an enjoyable and relaxing weekend racing Vipers on Lake Norman. Here was a regatta that reminded us why Viper racing is so much fun, This was a rendez vous regattas where the emphasis was less on the “competitive ” results and a little more on camaraderie, good clean racing, sharing boat handling tips etc.
Lake Norman was first and foremost a gathering of friends and then we went out and raced our sailboats. We all tried to tack on the best shifts and find the best pressure and execute lee bows & overlaps, but there was a lack of serious concern about the results, and more emphasis on having a good time with good friends that was refreshing. Put it this way, it left me wanting more.
Congratulations are ...
...read more - 2009 High Performance Dinghy Open October 14, 2009
Written by Justin Scott
The coolest thing about the HPDO is the high performance sailing camaraderie at this regatta. If you have never been to the HPDO, you have to visualize this beautifully manicured yacht club on a stunning point of land overlooking LIS with a Manhattan skyline, except it is totally overrun by this crazy event. There are hulls everywhere. A cats and F18s on the lawns, 5-05s, Fds, K6s, Vipers, 14s, moths and those wacky intl canoes filling every conceivable piece of the property (and it’s a large property)…..and spinnakers drying , and people in wetsuits and harnesses and everyone carrying free beer, ogling at each others boats and helping fix boats and talking tuning. Its hard to describe how American Yacht Club got this event so right. I guess you just had to be there!
And this ...
...read more - Sailing Anarchy – ISAF Regatta October 11, 2009
Written by Drew Harper
(photos courtesy of Dennis “Da Woody” St. Onge & Chrisann Tortora)
It’s once again o-dark-thirty. We always leave the Bay Area with strategic consideration on timing the drive through LA’s labarinth of freeways. We’re headed down through the length of some of the worlds toughest traffic. Strange things are yet to happen.
The Viper tows behind the truck like nothing’s there. It’s easy to edge up over 70, all the time keeping a keen eye out for the Highway Patrol.
An uneventful morning drive to what we thought was a quick stop for gas. I tossed the keys to ‘M’ (short for Mahalynn) and they apparently fell into a black hole. We all hit the head, got some coffee and met back at the truck. No key. We spent the next hour retracing steps, crawling through places we never ...
...read more - 2009 Viper North Americans…my take October 6, 2009
Written by Drew Harper
Yup, Upside down yet again (me and Mmmmmmmmm)
The Eastern Seaboard is the hotbed of Viper sailing, at least for now. Large fleets are very active all along the coast. It seems there’s a container that flows into that area every couple of months with a whole new load of boats for enthusiastic sailors. You’ve gotta love the old-style East coast Yacht Clubs. They all bear a striking resemblance to the West Coast’s golf clubs. Opulent and expensive. Part of the tradition I suppose. Indian Harbor Yacht Club and Stamford Yacht Club are no different. Amenities like swimming pools, beach clubs, clay court tennis and full fitness facilities set these clubs apart from the typical yacht club you might see in the west. The second you walk into Indian Harbor YC the smell of aged oak, walnut ...
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