Since coming into the class a few years ago, Team Z has been a force to be reconned with. Helmed by Marek Zaleski with his father Chris and Jake Bradt as steady crew, their boat handling, course management, sailing handling, and willingness to share ideas with other Viperers have become an inspiration for the Class. Coming off their win at the 2024 Seawanhaka Viper 640 Open in June, Team Z with their stealthy all-black outfits were consistently atop the leaderboard in last weekend’s New England Championship sailed as part of the Helly Hansen Sailing World Marblehead (MA) Regatta. There was a strong 21-boat turnout for the Nes and the competition was pretty tight.

The waters off Marblehead Neck gave everyone two races on Friday and Saturday – of note there were four races with four different winners. Sunday, despite the best hand wringing by the race committee, the wind had taken the day off so the entire regatta was skunked on day three.

That said, the mixing and matching over those four races gave nobody other than Team Z much breathing room. Consider these stats: the Z’s finished with 12 points, four ahead of Peter & Rachel Beardsley sailing with long-time Viperer Tom Loutrel driving in second.

After that, tie breakers set-in for third and fourth (Van Sheppard winning over Marina Maffessanti and Mike Weber, respectively).

Colin Santangelo, a local Viperer, had a solo lock on fifth with 2 points while Steve Chapman, Mike Deyett, and Andrew Reynolds were all tied at 29 points placing 6-8, respectively. Had there been another pair of races Sunday, podium positions were up for grabs.

There are two comments that need to be noted regarding this regatta. First, while we have had a number of husband/wife/partner duos sailing Vipers, for the NEs there were three parent child crews. Mike Deyett and Van Sheppard each sailed with two sons in crew while Doug Jensen drove in from Topeka, KS for the regatta and sailed with his son Jay. Sort of a “Happy Father’s Day” in July.

The other aspect of the event of note was that Eastern Yacht Club put on a wonderfully hospitable and gracious regatta with shoreside activities to match any regatta anywhere. Thanks Eastern YC for your efforts.

Congratulations to everyone who made the trip to Marblehead and Maddies (Justin or Cole will explain at some point) and here’s to getting the band together at our next major Viper 640 regatta.

Scores: https://www.yachtscoring.com/event_results_cumulative.cfm?eID=16263

Photos: https://www.facebook.com/Viper640