- Eight Bells: Geoff Ewenson October 15, 2020
It is with great sadness that we learned that we lost our friend Geoff Ewenson to a massive heart attack yesterday morning, October 14 at the very young age of 50. Since joining the Viper Class 5+ years ago, Geoff and his wife Mary have been two of the sparkplugs that have helped the Viper Class remain vibrant, active, and fun. Together, Geoff and Mary started the now-booming Viper fleet in Annapolis. Together they loved going to Miami for the Bacardi Cup and the Sarasota Winter Series, they traveled to all the major regattas, won a bunch of them, and were on the podium for almost all they entered, including a second place finish at the 2019 Worlds in Long Beach, and a third place finish at the 2018 North Americans in Kingston.
Then, suddenly yesterday we lost one of our ...
...read more - American Yacht Club’s High Performance Regatta October 12, 2020
October 10-11, 2020
2020 has been a challenging year for the NYC tristate area, for our country, and for the many people and families that have been personally affected by the pandemic. Viper sailing has been collateral damage to some extent compared to our usual turnouts with some folks away and others unwilling to sail with non-quaranteams. So, it was nice to end the season on a high note this weekend with the return of the Vipers to the High Performance Regatta f/k/a the HPDO. AYC “hosted” by providing RC and trophies, but none of it would have been possible without the 13 Vipers who decided to compete and the Larchmont Yacht Club flag officers that allowed visiting teams to launch from LYC (non-AYC members were not allowed at AYC).
The conditions ended up being close to perfect both days, with something ...
...read more - Team “Big Rooster” Wins 2020 Annapolis NOOD August 31, 2020
Sailing in Annapolis in August is always challenging. Plug in the passing of a tropical depression and the current pandemic, and the conditions are properly difficult.
The one out-of-town team that came for the Annapolis NOOD was Tyler and Jane Moore’s “Big Rooster” with Hampton native turned Annapolitan Austin Powers and his girlfriend Kayla Harper. The remainder of the fleet was made up of the local Annapolis gang.
Over the span of three days. the Vipers were treated to 10 races in a range of conditions.
Friday was generally light to moderate and had a massive range of wind directions as the weather tried to play tricks on the race committee. With the fleet set up off Greenbury Point, the breeze oscillated from the Severn River to the Bay. The fleet was very mixed with everyone having challenges getting the shifts right. At ...
...read more - Marblehead Vipers keeping it fresh… August 17, 2020
With COVID19 putting a hurt on the normal sailing season, the Marblehead Viper Fleet has been starting to return to a sense of normalcy. Since mid-June, the 6 (out of 10) local boats who felt safe to do so, have been out sailing with the Marblehead Racing Association. The fleet has had some great days on the water, with highly competitive racing. The teams on the water have been far more stable than in past years, with people wanting to maintain their ‘COVID bubbles’, a bit more shorthanded racing, and less recognizable than normal faces hiding behind masks; however, the sailing has been familiar: very close racing, fast and fun boats, and good socially-distanced camaraderie surrounding the Saturday’s racing… The local fleet is keeping things local this year through the end of September–keeping skills sharp for the next time we have ...
...read more - Southern Yacht Club Wins 2020 GYA Junior Lipton Challenge August 13, 2020
Gulfport Yacht Club, August 1-2, 2020
This year’s Junior Lipton Challenge was the 75th running of this historic regatta, one of the crown jewels of the Gulf Yachting Association’s Capdevielle interclub championship series. Hosted by the Gulfport (MS) Yacht Club with their Sailing Director and Viper sailor Sam Vasquez as Event Chair, the regatta reached its 6-race limit for the ten teams participating.
Of interest to those not familiar with the Capdevielle series, it is a twelve club-vs-club events with its own team composition requirements. For the six races sailed, any member can crew for all of them, but nobody can helm more than two races. This results in a cadre of sailors from each club participating with helms and crews jumping into and out of the boats constantly.
Saturday saw winds in the 8-12 knot range with Sunday’s wind peaking at around ...
...read more - Matt Kaplan and Harry Koeppel win Viper 640 2020 Atlantic Coast Championship – David Owen wins Larchmont Race Week August 13, 2020
Sailed over the first weekend of Larchmont Race Week, July 11-12, nine Viper crews contended with face masks, social distancing, and light, fickle Long Island Sound winds. In the end, however, it was the host Club’s Matt Kaplan and Harry Koeppel sitting atop the leader board and taking the win with a scoreline of 3-1-2-2. On the opening day, the light southwesterly wind that (at first) made the right side of the course look favorable proved to be a loss leader. Matt and Harry bailed out and went left on the first leg and were able to climb back into the hunt among the boats on the left. From there out it was a crap shoot to pick a side, look for pressure and, if possible, stay in phase.
Matt, a 2019 All-American from Bowdoin, and Harry, All-American Honorable Mention from ...
...read more - Announcing 2021 and 2022 World and North American Championships June 17, 2020
The LiveTiles North American Championship, scheduled for September 30 ,2020 at Noroton Yacht Club in Darien, CT, has been cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. “We knew that we could not expect teams from all over North America to make advance plans due to Covid-19 to travel to Noroton in September,” explained Steve Chapman, North American Class President. “With so much uncertainty about the situation postponing this year’s Championship was the right decision.”
The Class is pleased to announce, however, that the Noroton Yacht Club and Long Island Sound Viper 640 fleet will host a week of exciting events in October 2021.
The first Women’s Viper 640 International Championship will be held October 2-3, 2021. This is an open event for women-helmed teams, with entries expected from the U.S., Canada, Spain and Australia.
The 2021 Viper 640 North American Championship will be held ...
...read more - No such thing as a heavy weather gybe drop… June 5, 2020
Or so believes Peter Beardsley. But you know, having been there and having tried to do that, he’s right. Click HERE and read his whole story in the Viper Forum. Thanks, Peter.
Peter wrote:
Have been meaning to write this since after the February Sarasota event, but it seems like we need some content and as weather improves and people open up, maybe now is a good time to think about your boathandling and visualize some maneuvers.
Generally there are four types of spinnaker douses in Vipers:
Left hand turn (i.e., port rounding), coming in on port gybe = windward douse
Left hand turn, coming in on starboard gybe = gybe drop, aka “a Mexican” or a “Kiwi” (not sure on the origin of the Kiwi phrase – Mexican allegedly goes back to the 1992 America’s Cup when you did this takedown when the boat ...
...read more - Vipers returning to Miami next week as part of Bacardi Cup Invitational February 26, 2020
UNIQUE BLEND OF RACING AND SOCIALS WELCOMES INTERNATIONAL FLEET TO BACARDI CUP AND BACARDI INVITATIONAL REGATTA IN MIAMI, USA
More than 500 sailors to race on Biscayne Bay from March 1-7, 2020
For Immediate Release (MIAMI, FL.) United by an equal passion, more than 500 sailors from around the world will race in Biscayne Bay, Miami, at the 93rd Bacardi Cup and Bacardi Invitational Regatta from March 1-7, 2020.
Holding ninety-three years of tradition the Bacardi Cup is a member of an exclusive club of historic and long established sports events. First staged as a three-day regatta in Cuba in 1927, with less than ten Star boats, the event has grown year on year in partnership with BACARDÍ® rum, which has sponsored the event since its inception.
Offering a unique blend of world-class racing, atmosphere and social events, the Bacardi Cup and Bacardi Invitational ...
...read more - Ill wins Sarasota Viper finale, Benvenutti holds on for overall win February 11, 2020
Sarasota Winter Series Wraps Up
As reported by Steve Chapman
This past weekend was the final regatta of three weekends of the Sarasota Winter Series. This last event saw 14 Vipers sailing in great weather. The arrival of a cold front Saturday morning couldn’t keep the heat out of the sailing. With racing starting in 14 kts. and gusting to 18 kts., everyone had a chance to hike hard and have fun downwind. The wind eased all afternoon with the 4th race of the day raced in light 4-6 kts. It was all about shifting gears and adapting to the changing conditions all afternoon. Team Great Scott! (Peter & Rachel Beardsley with Jay Rhame) finished the day in the lead with an impressive 1-2-1-6, followed closely by Team Caterpillar (Peter Ill, Austin Powers, Alec Chicoine, and Abby Lockler, 6-3-3-2).
The North Debrief followed ...
...read more - Spectacular Conditions for Sarasota Winter Series #2 January 21, 2020
Sarasota Winter Series #2 is in the books, and once again the Viper fleet enjoyed spectacular conditions and very close racing.
Saturday came in with a bang. As we sailed out the channel and down to the racecourse it was straight into high speed running once we cleared the shallow area. After some aggressive starting practice, the fleet was able to begin racing in earnest. A smaller contingent of 15 boats escaped the clutches of winter from all parts of North America, and four races were completed in a forecasted right trending and fading breeze.
The big tactical question was when the shift would happen and whether there would be any breeze afterward. Each race had a different winner, and the very close racing meant, at the end of day one, the scores were very tight for the top spots. Race wins ...
...read more - Sarasota Sailing Squadron Viper 640 Winter Series – Weekend 1 Recap December 16, 2019
Early Christmas Present Sailing
Over the December 14-15 weekend, the seventh annual pilgrimage of Viper 640 and VX One sailors to Sarasota, FL, took place. In this, their version of a laidback winter series, those that made the trip were well rewarded by great sailing and great shore-side activities. Kicking-off on Friday night at Lynches Pub, the fun started off strong. The fun continued as 19 Vipers and 13 VX Ones sailed four solid races on Saturday in southwest Florida poster-worthy conditions: 12-18 kts with temps in the upper 70s. This was all followed-up with class debriefings, a group dinner, the perfunctory beverages, and a viewing of the Sarasota Holiday Boat Parade.
Sunday dawned crystal clear. When the 1000 warning signal went off, the fleet was greeted by an 8-12 kts easterly that allowed the sailors to rest their tired hiking muscles ...
...read more - The Viper 640s are headed back to Miami next March October 23, 2019
Don’t be left out. Make your plans NOW to be part of the Bacardi Invitational Regatta next March.
Viper Winter Cup – Monday/Tuesday, March 2-3, 2020
Viper Miami Scorch – Wednesday, March 4, 2020
Bacardi Invitational Regatta – Thursday, March 5 – Saturday, March 7, 2020 Info and registration HERE.
https://youtu.be/bcwu59_Op6M
...read more - Mo’ Grins Smiling after Lake Champlain Viper Open Win September 26, 2019
Lake Champlain Viper Open is in the Books
The Viper fleet has returned for a 6th time to the beautiful Lake Champlain for some top notch racing and hospitality. The driving force behind the event, the Hyerstay Family (Dale, Alice, and Jason) has once again rallied eager volunteers at Lake Champlain Yacht Club in Shelburne, VT, to organize perhaps the best ‘grassroots’ regatta in the Class. From the warm welcome on Friday night from Dale on the lawn in front of the Club, to the amazing hospitality of Club members who put-up the fleet for two nights of the regatta, to the ‘magic’ beverage coolers that seem to always stay full in Vermont, the event is just straight up ‘easy’ to do. The central location to many Viper teams is just right as well—we had 7 boats from the Marblehead fleet, ...
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