New England Championships June 13 & 14 @ Noroton YC

[Joe Healey]

Registration is now open!!!

New England Championships at Noroton Yacht Club, Darien Ct June 13th and 14th

Included in the entry fee is Dinner Saturday evening (burgers and salads), T shirts, breakfast Saturday and Sunday Morning (muffins, bagels, coffee) Lots of Heineken after racing each day.
Come Thursday or Friday night to rig your boat if you want. I will be around to help if needed (with beer I promise)

Easy sail in and out to the race course, great race committee as always.

Lets make this a great event  http://www.regattanetwork.com/event/10050#_home

[Cole Constantineau]

All signed up! Definitely looking foward to this one Joe!

[Joe Healey]

Thanks,

Its a great place to sail.

[Fletcher]

Sounds like all the makings for a solid event, we are registered!

Any suggestions where to stay?

[Joe Healey]

There are lots a Hotels in the area but I will do some investigating to find the most convenient place.

Stay tuned. 

[Peter Bauer]

Joe, Wild Hogs will be there, although I will not.  They will be registering in the near future. 

[Jason Hyerstay]

What is the price for this event?

[Cole Constantineau]

Jason,

I'm pretty sure I paid $160 for my registration.  Looking forward to seeing you guys there! :)

[Peter Beardsley]

Now up to 11 entries -- expecting 20+ for this one now that people are waking up and realizing that sailing season is here in the northeast. 

[Joe Healey]

Eleven Boats already signed up. We are expecting 20+  Who will be the next to register ?

[Joe Healey]

14 boats signed up keepem comming.

Where are the rest of the Larchmont boats, I counted at least 18 boats in the dry sail area.

How about the eastern LIS boats where are you guys.

[Fletcher]

Thanks again Joe for organizing an excellent event this weekend! Our team had a great time  - it was easy to set up and launch despite the fact there were 17 Vipers and 30+ Sonars.

The RC did a great job starting us on time and dealing with the fickle winds on Saturday.  There was always plenty of Heineken on tap and the food was well done.

We're looking forward to racing Noroton again - hopefully with less retriever line knots.

[Ed "Buttons" Padin, Class Administrator]

Danny Pletsch and Cardwell Potts win Viper 640 New England Championship as Larchmont Yacht Club sailors take the top three places.

Noroton Yacht Club (Darien, CT) was the host to the 2015 Viper 640 New England Championship with racing scheduled for June 13-14. Sixteen Vipers were in attendance and sailed four challenging races on Saturday. Leading the pack after the first day was BLACKOUT PROPOSAL being sailed by LYC's Danny Pletsch, Cardwell Potts, and Clay Bischoff. Their Day 1 line score was an impressive 3-1-1-1 for five points. Following in second were Peter and Rachel Beardsley in GHOST PANDA with local Noroton sailor Luke Raymond helming. Their Saturday performance was 1-4-2-2 for nine points. In third was WILD HOGS, Peter Bauer's Viper being sailed this season by Viper Class Administrator Buttons Padin...this weekend with Andy Kaplan was at the helm and Ryan Zupon in the bow. HOGS had a 2-2-5-3 Saturday for 12 point. It was not lost on these three crews that all were from the Larchmont Yacht Club Viper fleet.

Going into Sunday it was still a close regatta and everyone showed-up except the wind. After an extended shore postponement followed by an on-the-water postponement, no Sunday races were held so Saturday's positions held.

Results:  http://www.norotonyc.org/

The Noroton YC race committee did an excellent job managing the shifting conditions on Saturday and gave it the old college try in their efforts to get in racing on Sunday. It should be noted that Noroton's race committee had a double challenge as they were also running the Sonar Atlantic Coast Championship at the same time. The reality was that it was great for the Viper sailors to mingle with the Sonar folks...not to mention that a number of the Sonar sailors expressed serious interest in the Viper as a more high-performance boat.

Special thanks to Noroton's Viper guru Joe Healy who ended-up in finishing sixth after a tough final race on Saturday.

[Ed "Buttons" Padin, Class Administrator]

Color Commentary by Cole Constantineau

In typical summer Long Island Sound conditions, The 2015 New England Championships at Noroton YC may not go down as Viper #39's greatest regatta on the score sheet, but the 5 hour drive through rush hour traffic from Marblehead was totally worth it.

Awaiting us at the club was a parking lot full of Vipers and a nice reunion with our fellow Marblehead sailor, Fletcher.  He pointed us to the keg-erator and inspired us to do a little night rigging with him. Walking around the Noroton yard with beer in hand, I was taken aback by the sheer number of Sonars at the club, but I was also really excited to see 4-5 Vipers nestled in amongst them. Eleni and I managed to get the mast up on our boat before the onslaught of mosquitoes chased us away.

The ride out to the race course on Saturday morning was awesome! I was also starting to think our 4-up crew would be just perfect for a windier-than-expected day of racing. So, I promptly jinxed things by saying, "This will probably be the only time we do any planing this weekend". Almost immediately after saying this, the winds started dropping off--and would continue to do so throughout the day. Very quickly though, the RC got off our first race. Teams that knew the breeze was rapidly dying and were able to change gears quickly did well speed-wise. Peter Beardsley called to us, as he was adjusting his outers, that he was going to 1 turn under base. We had taken some turns off to the point of being overpowered, but our rig wasn't nearly as loose as the Ghost Panda. It certainly turned out that the locals knew a thing or two--by the second half of the race, the boats with the loose rigs were starting to really walk away from the rest of us (or at least us!).

The second race started with a 6-8 kt. breeze, but during the last leg it completely shut off, with that land breeze and a weak sea-breeze nullifying one another. Keeping the boat moving at this point became an absolute priority, and the teams that were able to ghost slightly better than others made out like bandits! After one powerboat wake and several 'gybes' we somehow managed to cross the finish line, but not before being passed by all of those boats who were more patient than us! They say having a short memory can be a good thing in sailboat racing--so there was nothing better than going for a swim during the subsequent postponement.

Just as we were drying off, a sea breeze started to fill in from the opposite direction (from the morning's wind). The Noroton PRO quickly dropped a course, and managed to get a sequence off. During the last two races in the 5-6 knot wind over choppy water, the boats that sailed low and fast clearly had more speed than those of us trying to stay pointed. Working the left side of the course Danny Pletsch and Cardwell Potts on the tiller in in Blackout Proposal and Luke Raymond in Ghost Panda did the best finding the line between speed and point. They accelerated away from the fleet in races 3 and 4, really showing the rest of the fleet that the boat indeed has another 'gear'.

My frustrations about being slow were quickly pushed aside at the Noroton BBQ. It was so great reuniting with the fleet, reconnecting with some people we hadn't seen since last summer, and reliving a few epic Viper fleet tales. Following our dinner, Danny and Peter led a super informative debrief that ended up taking over the party (especially when the LYC burgee birthday cake came out for Peter). I was eager to apply a few debrief tips the next day--but the weather gods seemed to be planning something else.

With a pretty discouraging forecast and glassy water throughout the harbor, day 2's attention turned to other very important matters: a Marblehead fleet house for the NA's will be happening, a new class rule requiring music capable Vipers may come up for vote at said NA's, and a rapid fly fishing deployment system was prototyped. Very much inspired by seeing Joe Healey bring a canoe and his entire fishing arsenal to Wickford last year, the very least I could do was bring along a little fly fishing gear.

An optimistic RC even gave us the chance to test out this fly fishing system by dropping the AP at around noon. After the slow slog out to the race course it was time to rig up and start trolling for some Bluefish! I was able to tie my fly rod tube very securely to the starboard pad eye used for the aft mainsheet bridle so that I could pull the fly rod out for use and start rigging while on starboard tack (important). After piecing together the reel and tying on my fly, I threw out a 50 foot cast from the stern of the boat! The 0-3 kt breeze was perfect for some silent trolling. Sadly though, we didn't hook anything. This may have been a good thing though: a 20 pound Bluefish thrashing around the Viper cockpit may not be a good thing... I am happy to report that this fishing setup stows quickly--when the RC (very optimistically) dropped the AP flag, we were able to stow everything in less than 30 seconds!

That final race was not to be--so back to Noroton we went to derig. espite the long day waiting for wind, and the Frank Pepe's in our near future, my crew and I still found ourselves hanging out at Noroton well past the awards. I'm pretty sure it was the great conversation over the remaining beer in the keg that kept us. Joe talked about past regattas in the Force 5, meanwhile Justin did his best to make us jealous about an upcoming Viper regatta on Lake Garda.  The people in the Viper class itself are really what makes the boat special, and this regatta really reminded us of that. Thanks Joe and Noroton YC for a wonderful event! See everyone at the next Regatta!