Velocitek Race Replays Kick Viper North Americans Up a Notch
Twenty six Vipers raced in the Viper 640 North American championships in Marblehead that finished on Sunday. The number of competitors has increased by 45% for two consecutive years mirroring the growth of interest in this modern 21 foot sportsboat. The record attendance at the Viper North American championships included participants from 5 new fleets that have formed in the last 12 months and exactly half of the skippers were new to the class since the last North American championships a year ago.
There were a few things that the Viper class did differently at their North American Championships. For one thing, the sailing instructions amended Rule 41 to read:-
41 OUTSIDE HELP
A boat shall not receive help from any outside source, except:- (f) The Viper 640 Class Association appointed coach boat
The coach boat was a bright orange rib flying the Viper Class Flag. The coaches consisted of the Viper's designer, Brian Bennett (who had flown over from New Zealand) and the builder, Paul Young (from the UK). Both are world class sailors and with an emphasis on boats in the second half of the fleet, they were motoring behind boats providing advice and tips on tuning, and taking photographs for post-racing debriefs.
The post-racing debriefs were enlivened further by online, interactive replays of the racing played on large screen television. Felipe Payet from the Texas Viper fleet had provided 15 Velocitek GPS units which stored the move by move action of each boat in the regatta. They can still be seen at http://www.sailhack.net/gps_replays/2008_viper_na/.
The post race debriefs and the race replays were instructional and often incredibly funny, including a classic moment when the replay recorded for posterity Timi's sudden change of course when the skipper fell overboard and pulled himself back on board with mainsheet still in hand.
The regatta saw a full range of New England's summer weather. The practice day on Thursday was abandoned in torrential rain as thunder storm cells moved through. The first day of racing consisted of light air 5 to 10 knots, with the winning boats focusing on keeping their boats in pressure. The early leader in the regatta was the team of Alan Block, Simon Strauss and Mer Block who scored a first and a second. Not bad, given they were sailing a Viper for the first time in a borrowed boat.
Saturday brought more breeze with 10 to 15 knots where shifts upwind and downwind planing speeds played a larger role. By the end of the second day, there was only one point between the first and second place boats, with Daan Goedkoop and crew in second place with a very strong discard situation. Their worst result was merely a fourth.
The final day of racing had oscilating breeze and a tidal change that created many interesting opportunities for places to change. The key was to keep the head out of the boat and watch out for the lanes that the local skippers chose. The final results were very close.
The nominations for the Ronstan Sportsperson of the Regatta included Brian Bennett and Rick Martin. This award is voted for, one vote per boat, for the regatta participant who most contributed to the overall fun of the regatta. The overall winner of the award, receiving a top of the line Ronstan watch, to a standing ovation, was Felipe Payet. Felipe had organized the Velociteks and had stayed up each night until the wee hours loading the race replays on to the Internet for our subsequent viewing. Then he had enough energy on the race course the following day to put most of us to shame. Without a doubt every Viper agreed it was a pleasure to be sailing with and against Felipe.
For information on the Viper class please visit the Viper 640 Class Association's webpage at http://viper640.org/.