Lake Champlain Viper 640, First sailing without Viper experts on board! Options

[hyerstay]

Viper 640 #42 splashed in Lake Champlain last week for the first time, and we took it for a second sail today before putting her to bed for the season. Co-owner Mark Englehardt and I went for the first sail with his wife and a girl friend of mine. Today, Mark and I went out with my 74-year old father who hasn't been on anything this small since his beloved Tanzer 22. I had the great fortune of having my first Viper sailing with viper640.org and M24 sailor Tom Dent at CRW, and then with Rockhead and Ultraracer at the recent NAs. They made everything look easy!

On our first sail, we had things rigged pretty well, but I had to get used to a different style spin halyard launch (horizontal off the mast with spinlock flipflop), and it was tough work matching the speedy douses I had witnessed! I certainly got some good practice that day. Mark is quite used to the U20, and he was making adjustments to the Viper. I tried to pass on my limited experience to the other crew, and we had a great time playing around on the bay. I did a little upwind driving, but mostly I had my eye on making sure we were doing the things I had remembered, and that everyone have some fun.

Today, it was a special treat taking my 74-year old Dad out, who introduced me to sailing and racing, and knows sailing, racing, and RC stuff forward and backwards, but hasn't ever sailed a sportboat before. We had him drive much of the time, and he can find the groove on any boat he sails on. Tacking was more gymnastic than he's used to on the 99, and he wore boots that have limited ankle articulation, so it took a few tacks to make that smoother.

I got a good taste of downwind driving today, which showed me that I have a lot to learn about about driving asym boats! Keep it flat seems to work better than not! We, I mean, I, also messed with the spin retrieval to add a ball/knot between the two retrieval points, and of course I mis-fed it on land, so we had to suffer with that on more dousing 'experiments". (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

Anyway, I'm super-psyched to have a Viper up here, and hopefully she'll be in a warm barn this winter for me to go over all the systems and learn the boat from the inside out. We plan on doing Miami and/or Charleston, so see you there!

In the meantime, I'll take any tips and tricks and ergonomic suggestions anyone has.

Cheers,

jason

[RockHead]

Today, it was a special treat taking my 74-year old Dad out, who introduced me to sailing and racing, and knows sailing, racing, and RC stuff forward and backwards, but hasn't ever sailed a sportboat before. We had him drive much of the time, and he can find the groove on any boat he sails on. Tacking was more gymnastic than he's used to on the 99, and he wore boots that have limited ankle articulation, so it took a few tacks to make that smoother.

I got a good taste of downwind driving today, which showed me that I have a lot to learn about about driving asym boats! Keep it flat seems to work better than not! We, I mean, I, also messed with the spin retrieval to add a ball/knot between the two retrieval points, and of course I mis-fed it on land, so we had to suffer with that on more dousing 'experiments". (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

Anyway, I'm super-psyched to have a Viper up here, and hopefully she'll be in a warm barn this winter for me to go over all the systems and learn the boat from the inside out. We plan on doing Miami and/or Charleston, so see you there!

In the meantime, I'll take any tips and tricks and ergonomic suggestions anyone has.

Cheers,

jason

Fixed that one bit for you.

Fantastic. Very cool to take your Dad out on the Viper. Old guys rock. Especially when it's a higher-po boat.

Suggestion: Keep the black stick in the air and the white blob in the water. Other-way round is bad news. Just ask Schoonerman....

[ultraracer613um]

Hey Jason - big congrads to ya! Send me a PM and i'll forward an email that i put together for a local down here in the big state that just took delivery of a boat.

Sailing with your pop - very cool stuff. At this years NA's i believe the oldest sailor sailor award went to someone in their mid 60's.. sounds like you guys would have a lock on that ;-)

Recomend you and your buddy catcha ride on a vipe for the midwinter regatta they are holding in Arizona - Jan. Nothing like boat time. It was great sailing with you and Rock at the NAs, looking forward to seeing you down in Miami.

Add - i dont know if it's been discussed but we're open to hitting the St. Pete NOOD prior to Miami. We'd leave the rig down there and just fly back and forth.

[VENOMISS]

Congrats J! Sounds like you and your friends/family had a good time shaking things out. If you are coming out to AZ for the January event let me know and I'll save you a spot at the house.

Salude!

[herbie verstinx]

Congrats J! Sounds like you and your friends/family had a good time shaking things out. If you are coming out to AZ for the January event let me know and I'll save you a spot at the house.

Salude!

how big is this mansion of yours?

[czo79]

Sweet! Glad to see some people are still getting out on the lake as the weather cools, and in a great boat! Was this the red viper that was in the LCYC lot for much of the summer? I always drooled over it every time I parked by it.
- Czo

[Soley]

I love stories like this. Sailing needs more people like Hyerstay in it.

[Soley]

I love stories like this. Sailing needs more people like Hyerstay in it.

[hyerstay]

Soley, thanks!

czo79, that pretty red sportboat at the club is Larz Barber's Open 5.00, the first one to come to the US. Our Viper only made it up here a couple of weeks ago, after the end of season work day.

Venomiss, you tempt me once again! Let me see how many CTO days I can save up by then!

Ultraracer, I'll hit you up for those tips. St. Pete would be fun too. I'll have to check the calendar.

Rockhead, hopefully it will be possible for us to do Miami and Charleston. Right after my buddy and I bought the Viper, our company was reorganized and now he is my boss! Now I don't have to convince anyone why I need to take off time for sailing!

As for sailing with my dad, it was definitely cool asking him if he wanted to sail on my boat instead of the other way around. Now I have to figure out how to split my sailing time between the C&C 99 and the Viper. I love the speed and excitement of the Viper, but we've got the 99 pretty well figured out now, and I love doing trimming, tactics, and foredeck while my dad drives. We are lucky to have a tight PHRF class, with good competitors, and there may be another 99 racing against us next season.

The Viper will be harder to place in a fleet this year. Another local sailor traded his M24 for an M20, so we could consider a small sportboat class of three, but I don't know if the Open could keep up at 180 or whatever they rate. We might end up in different fleets. The M20 might go with our B class including J/80, J/29, J/92, J/92s. Maybe the Viper (at 108) with that group, or chasing down the A class J/109, B36.7 and other bigger boats. There is another Viper on the lake, but they are on the NY side, so we would only see them in weekend races. Our race group will have plenty to talk about for class splits over the winter. I can't recommend enough getting together a mixed group of sailors to decide class splits by considering boat type rather than pure PHRF numbers. It is one of the only things to make PHRF complaints go down!

Cheers,

jason

[hyerstay]

The Viper will be harder to place in a fleet this year. Another local sailor traded his M24 for an M20, so we could consider a small sportboat class of three, but I don't know if the Open could keep up at 180 or whatever they rate. We might end up in different fleets. The M20 might go with our B class including J/80, J/29, J/92, J/92s. Maybe the Viper (at 108) with that group, or chasing down the A class J/109, B36.7 and other bigger boats. There is another Viper on the lake, but they are on the NY side, so we would only see them in weekend races. Our race group will have plenty to talk about for class splits over the winter. I can't recommend enough getting together a mixed group of sailors to decide class splits by considering boat type rather than pure PHRF numbers. It is one of the only things to make PHRF complaints go down!

Oops, the Viper 640 rates 102. Our C&C 99 rates 108. This is a perfect illustration of two similarly-rated boats who should not be in the same class! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

jason

[jrpytlak]

Soley, thanks!

czo79, that pretty red sportboat at the club is Larz Barber's Open 5.00, the first one to come to the US. Our Viper only made it up here a couple of weeks ago, after the end of season work day.

Venomiss, you tempt me once again! Let me see how many CTO days I can save up by then!

Ultraracer, I'll hit you up for those tips. St. Pete would be fun too. I'll have to check the calendar.

Rockhead, hopefully it will be possible for us to do Miami and Charleston. Right after my buddy and I bought the Viper, our company was reorganized and now he is my boss! Now I don't have to convince anyone why I need to take off time for sailing!

As for sailing with my dad, it was definitely cool asking him if he wanted to sail on my boat instead of the other way around. Now I have to figure out how to split my sailing time between the C&C 99 and the Viper. I love the speed and excitement of the Viper, but we've got the 99 pretty well figured out now, and I love doing trimming, tactics, and foredeck while my dad drives. We are lucky to have a tight PHRF class, with good competitors, and there may be another 99 racing against us next season.

The Viper will be harder to place in a fleet this year. Another local sailor traded his M24 for an M20, so we could consider a small sportboat class of three, but I don't know if the Open could keep up at 180 or whatever they rate. We might end up in different fleets. The M20 might go with our B class including J/80, J/29, J/92, J/92s. Maybe the Viper (at 108) with that group, or chasing down the A class J/109, B36.7 and other bigger boats. There is another Viper on the lake, but they are on the NY side, so we would only see them in weekend races. Our race group will have plenty to talk about for class splits over the winter. I can't recommend enough getting together a mixed group of sailors to decide class splits by considering boat type rather than pure PHRF numbers. It is one of the only things to make PHRF complaints go down!

Cheers,

jason

The open570 usually rates in the low 140's. In breeze, you won't be able to keep up with one boat for boat. In the light, you'll school em.

[hyerstay]

The open570 usually rates in the low 140's. In breeze, you won't be able to keep up with one boat for boat. In the light, you'll school em.

Hey John!

You don't think the Viper 640 would keep up with the Open 5.70 in breeze? I'll let the Viper owners who have shared a course respond to that, but it doesn't make sense to me.

Anyway, the red boat we have here is not an Open 5.70, it is an Open 5.00, the little sister, which LCPHRF has at 165. Most of the time the owner has been racing on slowboat's Swede 55, so we'll have to find out how much he will be racing it next season. The more sportboats we get out, the better. I just don't know where we should put these new ones before there are enough for a mixed SB fleet or an OD fleet.

We'll have to get you a Viper ride the next time you are back on Lake Champlain, or check with Brad Dumas in Plattsburgh, who has #77.

Cheers,

jason

[ultraracer613um]

The open570 usually rates in the low 140's. In breeze, you won't be able to keep up with one boat for boat. In the light, you'll school em.

Hey John!

You don't think the Viper 640 would keep up with the Open 5.70 in breeze? I'll let the Viper owners who have shared a course respond to that, but it doesn't make sense to me.

Anyway, the red boat we have here is not an Open 5.70, it is an Open 5.00, the little sister, which LCPHRF has at 165. Most of the time the owner has been racing on slowboat's Swede 55, so we'll have to find out how much he will be racing it next season. The more sportboats we get out, the better. I just don't know where we should put these new ones before there are enough for a mixed SB fleet or an OD fleet.

We'll have to get you a Viper ride the next time you are back on Lake Champlain, or check with Brad Dumas in Plattsburgh, who has #77.

Cheers,

jason

Vipe wont keep up with a speed-bump in a breeze? I want some of what you're havin.

[jrpytlak]

The open570 usually rates in the low 140's. In breeze, you won't be able to keep up with one boat for boat. In the light, you'll school em.

Hey John!

You don't think the Viper 640 would keep up with the Open 5.70 in breeze? I'll let the Viper owners who have shared a course respond to that, but it doesn't make sense to me.

Anyway, the red boat we have here is not an Open 5.70, it is an Open 5.00, the little sister, which LCPHRF has at 165. Most of the time the owner has been racing on slowboat's Swede 55, so we'll have to find out how much he will be racing it next season. The more sportboats we get out, the better. I just don't know where we should put these new ones before there are enough for a mixed SB fleet or an OD fleet.

We'll have to get you a Viper ride the next time you are back on Lake Champlain, or check with Brad Dumas in Plattsburgh, who has #77.

Cheers,

jason

Didn't know it was the Open500. But yeah, us on the 5.70's completely destroyed a Vipe during Sarcoma Cup. I honestly wouldn't go out on one in anything over 25. The 5.70 though...... I'd take one out in anything over 15. Then again, VSC is so fair weather you wouldn't ever get to race in the fun stuff anyhow. I have done the Hot Ruddered Bum when it was blowin in the 20's though. I'd say on the whole, there isn't enough breeze to have a 5.70 work in PHRF on LC. Viper or U20 would be my picks with the nod going to the U as it'd be way more comfy for the overnight races and might be slightly better in the light than the Vipe. If I were you guys, I'd just keep racin PHRF when yer not traveling. It's been really fun watching the underdogs on Last Kid Picked do well against the big dogs. It'd be cool to see someone do the same while panning insted of punchin a hole through the lake. Sorry Al. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/tongue.gif)