Southern Bay Race Week 2015

[Steve Taylor]

Join the growing Hampton fleet May 29-31, 2015 at Southern Bay Race Week - the Chesapeake's largest race week.

Three days of great races and great parties under the Gosling's rum tent!

NOR and additional info attached and at these links:
http://www.yachtscoring.com/emenu.cfm?eID=1250
http://hamptonyc.com/

Feel free to contact me for more info or housing requests.

[Henry Amthor]

The Water temp on the Southern Bay is now approaching the Mid 60's.
Housing is still available.

Hope to see you down here on the Warm & often Windy Hampton Flats. 

h

[Steve Taylor]

Let me know if anyone is interested in crewing for the weekend.

[Peter Beardsley]

10 Vipers signed up for this now.  Not bad.

[Ed "Buttons" Padin, Class Administrator]

VIPER 2015 SOUTHERN BAY RACE WEEK REPORT
Submitted by Henry Amthor

Hampton YC hosted the 2015 edition of Southern Bay Race Week over the three day weekend of May 29-31 in perfect sailing conditions. This year the Viper Class sailed 9 races over three days experiencing just about every wind direction/breeze combination possible.  Our 10-boat Class was part of 93 entries in the event and we were on a strictly one-design circle with the J/70 and J/24 classes. Each day saw a new racing area and the final days location was a new one for even the locals.

Friday we sailed on the western side of Hampton Flats in a nice sea breeze that built from 10 knots up 18 knots by the end of the day. Tyler Moore, sailing with his wife Jane and boat partner Barry Allardice, won the day with all top three finishes. Geoff Ewenson, sailing with his wife Mary and Brendan Drinkwater, sailed well with all top-five finishes. Steve Taylor, sailing with brand new Viper sailors Chris Pfrang and Sterling Spruill, had all top 6 finishes including two race wins as the breeze came on. Fourth on the day was David Eberwine sailing with his boat partners Doug & Henry Amthor.

Saturday, sailing on the traditional Hampton flats near Hampton Yacht Club, was very similar to Friday as the sea breeze came in after a postponement and built throughout the afternoon from eight to twenty knots with some nice, breezy runs.

The Ewenson family won the second day with a score line of 2,1,1 . The Moores, this time sailing with the addition of their 8-year old young son Parker, sailed four-up as they flew out of the blocks to win the first heat. After race five, however, they had to sail in to HYC to replace a ripped kite. They did make the final race of the day and, with a dropout, were now tied on points with the Ewensons . Third on the day and moving up to fourth overall were new Hampton Viperer and Viperette Mark and Kathy Wheeler sailing with Martin "Bubba" Casey (who is anxiously waiting for his new Snake to arrive). They had a solid day with a 5,2,2.

David Eberwine sailed well Saturday with the addition of his wife Sherl and Doug Amthor's son Benton (age 13) who replaced Uncle Henry for the day with scores of 3,3,4 moving them up to third overall.

Lots of family fun in downtown Hampton with the Blackbeard Pirate Festival and fireworks going on. The daily awards in the Rum Tent each night of the regatta (big thanks to Goslings Rum) and all the local sponsors' that kept the regatta cost way down and the fun meter way up.

Sunday dawned as another warm, sunny day with a new race area out in Chesapeake Bay near Ocean View. A nice off-shore westerly filled the course and the fleet enjoyed two more shifty races before calling it a day. The scores tightened as the two leaders were OCS in the first one and both had to restart and try to work back thru the fleet. The Ewenson's had a better restart and moved ahead by one scant point with a sixth vs. the Moore's seventh.

The Moores and Barry took no prisoners to lead from start to finish in the final heat taking the title. The Ewensons had another great regatta in what may have been Mary's first Viper event. The Eberwine/Amthor team won the day with two second place finishes to tighten-up the overall scores.

Steve, Chris and Sterling also had a good day with a 1,5 to move  up to 4th overall . The Wheeler s had a solid 5,3 to stay in the top 5 overall. A great result in their first Viper Regatta in their new boat.

It was really nice to have all these family teams and our guests from Maine (Bob, Jeff, and Sarah in brand new USA 236) and North Carolina team of (Sarah, Dave, and Eddy in USA 108) sailing in Champagne conditions.

Many thanks to Race Week organizers Jack and Bettyrene Pope , Lin and John McCarthy, Suzanne and Dave Hamilton, and their army of HYC volunteers. Special thanks to our HYC One-Design supporters and PRO Brian and Kim Deibler.