- And the picket fence got even longer… October 21, 2022
Jackson Benvenutti, Andrew Eagan, and Chris Alexander extend their streak of bullets to seven!
You know you’re doing well when your drop is a first, and that’s what’s happening for the team from Bay Waveland (MS) Yacht Club. Yesterday, we got Jackson’s take on their first three wins. Today, we’re talking with Andrew Eagan, middle on the boat, who works with Chris Alexander on tactics. Andrew shared the following on today and yesterday’s racing: “We know we have good boat speed, but in the first three races today we struggled to get off the line. The big thing is how well we communicate and move on the boat together. We’re in total sync although we haven’t sailed with Chris before. It seems like our comms are getting better every race between Jackson on the helm and Chris easing the jib in ...
...read more - Picket Fence for Benvenutti after Day 1 at Viper NAs October 20, 2022
Jackson Benvenutti, Andrew Eagan, and Chris Alexander have a picket fence after Day 1 of the 2022 Viper 640 North American Championship.
After a two-hour shore delay awaiting the sea breeze to fill in, the 2022 Viper 640 North American Championship got underway on the waters of the Gulf of Mexico just south of the host club, Gulfport (MS) Yacht Club. PRO Hal Smith, no stranger to Viper racing, welcomed the 30-boat fleet to the starting area and proceeded to run three W2 races. As the wind built from 6 to 9 knots, the course length stretched out from .7 to .8 NM.
In the end, it was Jackson Benvenutti, Andrew Eagan, and Chris Alexander sitting atop the leaderboard with three points…having won all three heats. Jackson and Andrew crewed for Andrew’s brother Marcus when that trio won the 2019 Viper North ...
...read more - Rachel Beardsley wins Women’s NAs and Michael Burns wins Youth NAs October 17, 2022
October 16, 2022
Viper 640 2022 Women’s and Youth North American Championships
Gulfport (MS) Yacht Club has turned into Viper 640 Central this weekend through next. The weekend of October 15-16, Gulfport Yacht Club hosted the second Viper 640 Women’s NAs and the Class’s first Youth NAs. GYC PRO Steve Nolte got in a full schedule of eight races over the two days commenting, “The sailors came to sail and we had the time and ideal conditions for a final race today…so we went for it. It didn’t change any of the finishing positions, but the sailors got to spend another hour racing in today’s ideal conditions of 7-10 knots.”
Conditions for the regatta tended to be in the 5-7 knot range with only the final heat seeing 9-10 knot on the course.
The 2022 Women’s North American Champion is Rachel Beardsley (Shelter Island, ...
...read more - Gulfport Yacht Club locked and loaded for upcoming North Americans September 27, 2022
Three Viper 640 North American Championships are set to begin in less than a month. As was discussed in the North American Executive Committee meeting earlier this week, the sailing and social plans GYC has in place make this a “must sail” event…and now that’s even easier than you may think.
Don’t want to tow your boat to Mississippi? Turns out you really don’t have to. Sam Vasquez at GYC has between three and five Vipers available for charter and very, very reasonable rates. Get your crew, book a hotel or AirBnB, and come sail this year’s North American Championships. Open teams, Women, Youth, they can accommodate all.
To arrange to charter a boat, contact Sam Vasquez.
Information and online registration:
Women’s/Youth NAs – October 15-16, 2022
North American Championship – October 19-23
...read more - Announcing the 2022-23 Southern Yacht Club Winter Viper 640 Series July 25, 2022
Thanks to the Viper team at Southern Yacht Club in New Orleans, LA, and SYC Viperer Ricky Welch, we are pleased to announce a four-part Viper 640 Winter Series to be sailed on Lake Pontchartrain, the site of the 2023 Viper 640 Worlds SYC is hosting next March.
Registration is open and you have to apply to each weekend separately, but here’s the schedule and the Notice of Race with links to individual weekend’s sign-ups.
Schedule
Four individual regattas are scheduled for the series:
Event #1……………December 10-11, 2022……….. Event Link
Event #2 …………..January 7-8, 2023 ……………… Event Link
Event #3……………February 4-5, 2023 …………… Event Link
Event #4……………March 4-5, 2023 ……………….. Event Link
The racing schedule for each regatta will be as follows:
Saturday
0800-0900…………Registration
0900 …………………Competitors Briefing
1030 …………………First Warning Signal
Sunday
1030 …………………First Warning Signal
1430 …………………No Warning Signal after this time
Weather permitting, they will attempt to run 6 races per weekend.
...read more - Ed Feo, Chuck Tripp, and Kevin Taugher win Viper PCCs at LBRW June 28, 2022
Long Beach Race Week/PCCs, by Steve Bloemeke, ABYC
Having just completed Long Beach Race Week (and Pacific Coast Championships) with Friday’s windspeed of 16-18 knots, and 18-20 on Saturday; both days with chop and steep wave sets, I thought that it would be fun to take a poll of the fleet and ask – “How would you describe sailing a Viper 640 in 18-20 knots of wind in a healthy sea state?” The replies were not exactly what I expected; some quite colorful. In the interest of keeping things sufficiently reader-friendly, the basic response was that sailing upwind was not delightful and too long, and downwind being exhilarating and not nearly long enough! Sunday’s last day of racing was quite mundane with 5-7 knots in the first race, with 12-14 knot build in the final race which was welcome to many ...
...read more - Consistency pays off as Mark Wheeler wins Southern Bay Race Week June 27, 2022
Southern Bay Race Week
June 2-5, 2022
Hampton (VA) Yacht Club
Mark Wheeler, sailing with Charles Brewer and Austin Powers, gave a lesson in consistent sailing during this year’s SBRW. Tossing an eighth, in the nine scored races, Wheeler and crew posted five firsts, three seconds and a seventh for 18 points…a nine-point lead over Justin Morris in second with 27 points and Peter Ill in third with 31 points, one ahead of Henry Amthor.
Henry got off to a fast start and was winning after the first day; however, when Mark turned on the after burners in his VAPOR TRAILS with two bullets on Day 2, the lead changed hands for good. Also sailing an excellent regatta was Justin Morris winning three races and placing second twice.
Mark Wheeler had been close to winning in the past, but this regatta was his going away. ...
...read more - Grace Howie Wins 2022 Viper 640 Women’s Atlantic Coast Championship June 26, 2022
Day 2/Final Recap
June 26, 2022
Noroton Yacht Club, Darien, CT
From the moment the first sailors arrived at Noroton Yacht Club this morning, it was “iffy” if there would be any sailing. Flags all around were hanging vertically…but the forecasts said we’d have wind sooner than later. Oh, well, that didn’t happen.
Despite the Harbor Hurricane starting at about 1100, the predicted southerly never filled in on the Soud. It was a tease as for one moment it looks promising only to have any progress moving away. It was like Charlie Brown with Luch holding the football!
At 1300 PRO Howard Seymour and Event Chair Justin Scott blew three horns and hoisted November over Alpha.
Saturday’s three-race results stand with New Yorkers Grace Howie and Elizabeth Hupp sailing with Louisiana sailors Max Allen and Andrew Brennan winning the Championship with a 1-2-1 scoreline for four ...
...read more - Grace Howie leading Viper 640 Women’s ACCs after Day 1 June 25, 2022
Viper 640 Women’s Atlantic Coast Championship – Day 1 Recap
June 25, 2022
Noroton Yacht Club, Darien, CT
Here’s another regatta that felt the ongoing impact of Covid-19. Of the original 14 boats registered to sail I this Championship, only 11 made it to the starting line today due to numerous sailors testing positive for Covid.
For those that sailed, however, there were three races and the Race Committee under the leadership of PRO Howard Seymour wrenched all they could from the initially filling and then dying wind.
Despite the “Harbor Hurricane” everyone felt in the morning, the Long Island Sound was a wind dead zone. After a 2-hour postponement, racing got off in a 6-7 knot southwesterly wind. The originally set windward mark quickly turned into a near port tack fetch as the wind backed 30 degrees. Reset marks progressively moved left throughout the ...
...read more - June 23, 2022
Below are the Booking Links for both groups to begin making reservations.
Should guests wish to stay for the duration, they would need to make 2 separate reservations…
Book your group rate for Women’s Youth Viper 640 North American Championship
Book your group rate for Viper 640 North American Championship
COURTYARD GULFPORT BEACHFRONT
1600 E Beach Blvd.
Gulfport, MS 39501
...read more - Ewenson, Cox, and Hillmyer win 2022 Viper 640 Atlantic Coast Championship May 20, 2022
May 13-15, 2022
PHOTOS Courtesy of Spinsheet Magazine
Sailed as part of the 2022 Helly Hansen Sailing World Regatta Series, this year’s Viper ACCs were a light-air challenge, requiring expert boat handling, tactics, and the ability to change gears.
With Annapolis Yacht Club as the primary host club, most of the Vipers were across the Sevrin River at Eastport Yacht Club. If you looked at YachtScoring a few days before the event, you would have seen 27 Vipers registered, but thanks to everyone’s friend, Covid-19, a number of boats had to withdraw at the last moment creating a number of crew swaps resulting in hybrid crews.
The plan was to race three days sharing the same circle with the J/70s and J/30s. Interestingly, the J/70s have a 5-knot minimum wind speed for starting a race, and, at one point on Friday, when the wind ...
...read more - Vipers in Miami – The Bacardi Invitational 2022 March 31, 2022
Sunshine, warm weather and a strong sea breeze on Biscayne Bay welcomed a very international group of Viper sailors in Miami for the Bacardi Invitational Regatta. Add in the Bacardi hospitality and the night life in Coconut Grove and you have all the elements of a great sailing event.
We started the week with the traditional Miami Scorch, a fun race across Biscayne Bay to the Boaters Grill where we were warmly welcomed with cold beer and Cuban style seafood.
The return race (LeMans start) showed valiant seamanship as teams worked to fix inter-team attempts at minor sabotage while flying spinnakers out of the tiny harbor (the Mambo King turned into the Mambo Joker….).
The visiting teams from Ireland (perennial Bacardi participant Anthony O’Leary and his crew of Clive O’Shea and Neal Fulcher) on 296 and Italy (Oriano Lanfranconi and Giulia Puccetti, who ...
...read more - North Americans Registration Now Open March 30, 2022
Registration now open for the 2022 Viper 640 North American Championship.
Event Details
Coed Register Here
Women’s & Youth Register Here
...read more - 2022 Bacardi Invitational Regatta Final Recap March 18, 2022
Here is another amazing video from Miami courtesy of Skylla Filmworks. This really sums up what it is like to sail a Viper in Miami!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YqK6jtNABNQ
...read more
