2015 North Americans @ Larchmont YC

[Ed "Buttons" Padin, Class Administrator]

2015 Viper 640 North American Championship

Logistic Memo #1

Here are some helpful hints to make the Viper NAs a more enjoyable regatta for all:

You: "Jeez, Buttons, this is an AWLFUL LOT to read! @##$$%"
Buttons: "Yeah, I know. I had to write it all...BUT, if you take a minute to read this you're bound to have more fun t the NAs next week. Pretend they're NOT the SIs and read this."

1.      Crew Waivers – please make sure your crew goes to Yacht Scoring and completes their respective Crew Waiver. Having this done will greatly simplify the Registration process. And, if you haven't completed your crew member registration, please try to do that ASAP.
2.      Blast Text Messaging during the regatta – We will be setting-up a blast text message network for the NAs so that any information, changes of process, or fun details can be sent to everyone in real time. Please ensure your cell phone numbers are entered into yachtscoring.com for your entry.
3.      Registration – When you get to the Club Wednesday afternoon or Thursday morning go right into the main Clubhouse and turn to the right (past the front desk) into the Tap Room. There Mary Jo, Marion, DeDe, and Helen (collectively known as the A-Team) will be there to help you register.
4.      At registration, you'll receive bow numbers, sponsor bow stickers, and, if needed, EFG mainsail stickers. The best place to apply the stickers will be in the Pandemonium pavilion to the right of the Clubhouse as you approach from the parking lot.
5.      If you ordered any NA apparel from Pirates Lair, you will be able to pick it up at registration. Additional orders for NA apparel can be placed during the regatta for orders to be sent to your homes.
6.      Boat Measurement – The Technical Committee will be checking all boats competing to make sure they confirm with the Class rules. Yacht Scoring has the inspection sheet posted under Regatta Documents. An inspection checklist, signed by a Tech Committee member, must be submitted to the registration desk prior to the first warning. 
7.      Launching/Hauling plans – As indicated in the NoR, half of the boats will stay in the water every night. Ideally, the first 25 boats arriving at LYC will be inspected Wednesday and launched. They will then be taken out to empty moorings in the harbor.
a.      All trailers will be marked with the respective boat's bow number.
b.      The fleet will be divided into Wednesday/Friday and Thursday/Saturday launched boats.
c.      LYC Marine Facilities will orchestrate trailer storage so that the right trailer will be brought to the right hoist "just in time" for the haul out. This way we can avoid traffic jams in the dry sailing area and get everyone to the beer and chow sooner.
d.      After racing Sunday, the local boats will all be hung on moorings as the traveling boats get hauled immediately. The local boats will then haul after all guest boats are on the hard.
8.      The evening's social schedule is as follows:
a.      Every afternoon you will be greeted with Bell's Brewery Beer and après-sailing snacks on the patio of the Pandemonium. Don't stuff yourselves because dinner will follow at 6:30-7:00.
b.      Thursday at 6:00 will be the 2015 Annual General Meeting and all sailors are asked to attend. During the meeting you'll hear from the Class leadership, meet the current and incoming Commodores of the Gulf Yachting Association, and cast  the final votes for this year's Viper Class Rules Proposal. If you have any New Business you'd like to bring up, please contact Buttons Padin ([email protected]) so we can put it on the agenda.
c.      Thursday night dinner in the Pando will be some great comfort food served family style at large tables. You'll be asked to sit at specific tables as Thursday night is also Trivia Contest night. Your crew will be matched and seated with two other crews from other parts of Viperdom. Together you will compete for the Viper Trivia Championship...and you'll make a bunch of new friends in the process.
d.      Friday night will be more good food and libations in the Pando. Casual conversations, sea stories, and the occasional joke may become the theme of the evening.
e.      Saturday night we will be having our more formal dinner in the Club's Quarterdeck. Now, I say formal from a Viper perspective. If you can avoid jeans that would be great. If you ordered a button down Viper shirt...wear it. I may even sport a blue blazer—not a requirement but that's how I roll.
f.       Sunday will conclude with awards and après-sailing chow but no organized dinner.
g.      IF YOU'RE BRIGNING A GUEST: you can pay a Full Regatta fee of $125 per the NoR and have your guest join in the après-sailing chow and all three meals. Individual guest meal reservations can be made at registration as follows: Thursday night @ $36, Friday night @ $38, and Saturday night @$55.

Look for more updates tomorrow...

Sail fast,

Buttons

[Peter Beardsley]

Logistics, Part 2 (please read carefully)

1. HPDO: for those doing the HPDO, unless you have received advance permission to sail from LYC, we ask that you sail from AYC Oct. 10-11, though all teams after sailing on the 11th are welcome to sail to LYC (and we recommend dropping a teammate on the AYC dock first to get the car and trailer - make sure that person has the car keys!) to drive the trailer around to LYC while the rest of the team sails to LYC so you can haul out at LYC without dropping your mast.

2. Launching times: if you haven't responded to the earlier email yet, please email [email protected] to let Peter know if you plan to launch Wednesday night or Thursday morning.  There is a staggered launching and hauling schedule.  If you're in the water Wednesday, you can haul Thursday.  If you're launching Thursday, you must stay in the water Thursday night.

3. Housing: if you requested housing, you should have received an email by now with a housing assignment.  If you haven't received a housing assignment or do not know where you are going to stay, please email [email protected] ASAP. 

4. Corinthian Trophy / Registering Crews: please go into yachtscoring.com to edit your entry and add your crews' names.  The crews will need to sign waivers and if you get that done in advance, it will speed up registration.  Additionally, if you want to be eligible for the Corinthian Trophy, you need to have all crew names in there with ISAF classification and number.  We will NOT hunt this down for you.  The highest placed all-amateur team who has all information completed correctly will win the trophy. 

Similarly, if you do not plan to sail with the same crew the entire event, please note Class Rule 10.6: "No changes to the constituent team of helm and crew shall be made at sanctioned regattas without written approval prior to sailing from the Regatta Organizing Committee (designated by the Executive Committee) posted on the official notice board."  Prior approval is required.  Email [email protected] ASAP if you know that your crew makeup will change during the event and/or note such changes on your crew list on yachtscoring.com.
5.  The Sailing Instructions and an amendment to the Sailing Instructions have been posted on yachtscoring.com - check 'em out if you haven't already.

6.  GoPro Footage: since this will be the largest regatta in Class history, we thought it would be nice to make a video.  We will have a professional videographer on the water part of the time but we also ask that teams let us know if they are shooting GoPro footage during the event from their boats - we hope to upload all raw footage to a site for editing -- who knows, your team could become Sailing Internet Celebrities!

7. Mooring Lines – Each boat will spend two nights in the water on a club mooring. These moorings are set-up with twin painters with eyes at each end. Please bring an appropriate line that can be led from your mast, through the eyes, and back to the mast. You may also want to bring a sail tie or short line to snug-up the bow line to the bar in the spinnaker chute.

8.      When you arrive at Larchmont YC with your boat on its trailer, drive past the tennis courts, turn left at the little traffic circle, and then stop in front of the entrance to the Commodores' parking lot. Unhook your boat, move it into the Cdres' lot and park your car. Please register before you start setting-up your boat.

9.      Speaking of Commodores, LYC's Commodore is Tim Porter, Vice Commodore is Viper Sailor Andy Kaplan, and Rear Commodore is Andy Donnellan. We will see a ton of Andy on the water in Viper 122; Tim and Carla Porter and Andy and Terry Donnellan will be around as well. Say hello and thank them for opening up their club to 160+ crazy Viper sailors.

10.      Speaking further about commodores, George Goodall from Ft. Walton Yacht Club and current Gulf Yachting Association Commodore will be joining us with his wife for the Regatta. I believe George will be on the Signal Boat. The GYA's incoming Commodore, Cathy Cromartie from Fairhope Yacht Club will also be attending. They are coming as guests of the Viper Class Association and Rondar Raceboats with the intent to meet as many in the Viper community as possible. EVERYONE, skipper, crew, volunteer, should make it a point to meet George and Cathy.

11.      House Charges – Each skipper will be issued a LYC Guest Privilege Guest Card at registration. This Guest Card will have your Z-number whereby you can charge any additional liquor, food, etc. and have those charges sent directly to a credit card. If a crew wants his/her own Guest Card, that can be arranged at Registration, too.  That said, we'll have plenty of food, beer and wine already included with your registration fee and thanks to our generous sponsors at Bell's Brewery and Gubinelli Wines.  And speaking of the sponsors...

12.      Lunches – Lunches will not be provided to competitors.  There are a number of nearby delis and sandwich shops were you can pick-up lunch for yourself and your crew. Here are a few:

1.      Trax – 135 Chatsworth Ave. (by train station), Larchmont – 914-630-7490

2.      Larchmont Gourmet Deli – 124 Chatsworth Ave. (by train station), Larchmont – 914-834-4545

3.      Manor Park Deli – 137 Larchmont Ave., Larchmont – 914-834-1986

4.      Wraps – 1936 Palmer Ave (corner of L'mont Ave), Larchmont – 914-833-7656

5.      Imperial Milk Mart – 14 Chatsworth Ave., Larchmont – 914-834-2221

13.      Sponsor acknowledgements – You're going to have a great regatta thanks to the generous underwriting by a number of sponsors. Most will be at the event at different times and it would be great if you introduced yourselves to them, chatted with them a bit, and thanked them for their support. They include:

o   Juan Pujadas from PwC and his wife Shannon.

o   Chris Sheehan – his company is providing the Bell's Brewery beer and ale. He also owns an XP44 he's been racing hard all summer. Ask him about it.

o   Laurence Noble – Laurence owns Gubinelli Wine and will be helping us enjoy our Thursday and Saturday night dinners. He's coming in from his home in Bermuda to watch racingSaturday and Sunday with his NY distributor. A good fellow we'll undoubtedly see again in Miami and next fall in Bermuda.

And then there are our sailor sponsors and supporters:

o   Andrew Weiss's Flintlock Construction – you'll see Andrew skippering Viper 179 Dragon Fire on the water.

o   Paul Young and Dan Tucker from Rondar Raceboats. They, with Tyler Moore will be making some large contributions to the nightly raffles.  Dan will be sailing Viper 209 and Tyler Viper 181.

o   Butch Ulmer – He's not only our PRO, but he ran UK Sailmakers for decades. UK is donating a new spinnaker to the raffles. BTW, Butch has just a few good stories to share...just ask him.

o   Brad Boston from Doyle Boston Sails in Viper 235. He's donating a jib to the raffles and you'll be lucky if he's still in sight on the race course (multiple time NA champ).  His brother Tac Boston will be in a coach boat most of the regatta and leading a debrief Friday night.

o   Zeke Horowitz from North One-Design in Viper 172. North sprung for all the bow numbers and is giving two 50% off jib coupons for the raffle. Key is that with the coupon comes a day's coaching from a North pro.  North will also have their Regatta Services Team of Tim Healy and Ched Proctor to lead a debrief on Thursday night.

o   Craig and Deb Wilusz, Viper sailors we have raced against over the years, started Gulf Performance Sailing and were INSTRUMENTAL in the GYA's voting for the Viper as its next Capdevielle boat. They will be up for the AGM and Trivia only so make sure to say hi to them Thursday night.

[Peter Beardsley]

From the 2015 Viper 640 North American Championship event:

As you probably know, all boats competing at NAs are going to be inspected on land.  Passing inspection is a key step in completing registration for the regatta.  A team of local Tech Committee member Bob Matthews and TC Chair Dave Nickerson, aided by local volunteers, will inspect as many boats as possible this weekend at HPDO; remaining inspections will be done on Wednesday at Larchmont, starting at about 10:00 hours.

With your help, inspections should in most cases take no more than 10 minutes per boat.  (If your keel has been faired since 9/30/2012, your inspection will take a few minutes longer.) To facilitate the inspection process, please do the following:

(1) Print and review the inspection list in the documents section of the NAs entry on Yachtscoring.  Make sure your boat satisfies each of the items on the list.
(2) Your sprit extension will be measured, so please check this measurement yourself beforehand and adjust it as necessary.
(3) Your tow line will be measured, so please check its dimensions beforehand.
(4) In preparation for your boat's inspection, please facilitate the inspection process by (i) laying out your sails (2 complete sets max) so the stickers are visible, and (ii) laying out all safety gear mentioned on the inspection list so that it is visible
(5) Please make sure your running rigging and mainsheet configurations conform to Class Rules.

In addition, please note the following to make our lives easier and your registration process faster:

- Please complete your crew lists on yachtscoring.com and have your crews sign the waivers online (they will receive them once they are registered with proper email addresses as your crew)

- Please email [email protected] to say which day you plan to launch (Wednesday or Thursday).  If you plan to practice Wednesday, you will very likely stay in the water Wednesday night absent some damage or other situation that needs immediate repair. 

- If you have any friends or family who are coming to the NAs who may want to spectate, we will likely have spectator boats leaving from LYC each day, though advance arrangements need to be made so that we know how many people will be coming.  Email [email protected] and [email protected] if you wish to secure spots on spectator boats.

For those who missed it, we posted an Information Sheet on yachtscoring.com with information about boat repair guys, local sailing stores, groceries, and other area information under "Documents and Forms." 

[Justin Scott]

CREW:

If any NA competitor is having some last minute crew shortages, please reach out to me via justinscott AT optonline DOT net
There are competent college sailors who would enjoy racing for some or all of the NAs, including weekdays.

Looking forward to a great regatta.

[Peter Beardsley]

From the 2015 Viper 640 North American Championship event:

Less than 48 hours until the first warning signal for Viper 640 NAs.  You've gotten a bunch of email notes from us over the past few days.  Some final reminders based on inquiries we're receiving:

1. Crew substitutions: Viper class rules require you to sail with the same crew for the entire event unless the substitution is approved IN ADVANCE by the Regatta Executive Committee, which for this event is the Event Chair (Peter Beardsley: [email protected]) AND Class Technical Committee Chair Dave Nickerson ([email protected]).  Generally acceptable excuses for crew substitutions include family or work commitments.  Unacceptable excuses include "I think it'll be windy a particular day and want a larger crew for part of the event."  Approved crew substitutions will be posted on the regatta notice board.  If it's not posted there, it's not approved and you may be subject to protest. 

2. Boat inspections: there will be a lot of inspections to do tomorrow.  Please make everyone's job a bit easier by being prepped and ready to go. 

3. Crew waivers: while almost 70% of the fleet has completed their crew lists, only 3 boats in the fleet have completed full crew waivers -- your crews need to register on yachtscoring.com (log in at http://www.yachtscoring.com/emenu.cfm?eID=1518 and click on "Crew Corner"). Everyone is required to complete this waiver and it is much faster to do it online than have to find your crew at registration and have them sign their forms.  So please forward this email to your crews today -- it takes less than a minute to complete. 

[Lee Shuckerow]

Any updates, pics, videos of the event?

[Peter Beardsley]

There have been daily press releases on the front page of Viper640.org and on the Class's Facebook page.  We can repost here and are working on photos from the event along with a video, the latter of which will take some time to edit of course. 

[Lee Shuckerow]

There have been daily press releases on the front page of Viper640.org and on the Class's Facebook page.  We can repost here and are working on photos from the event along with a video, the latter of which will take some time to edit of course.

I have kept track of all press releases and got some updates and videos from Doyle Boston Facebook page. I was hoping for more video. I've had a lot of time sitting around with the wife and newborn baby Oliver

[Peter Beardsley]

Some windward mark pics to keep Lee busy for a few minutes.  A lot of leeward mark pics to follow in a day or so.  https://www.dropbox.com/sh/8lfubncrgiofgp5/AAC4IKM0lOBZJYVlX8BYPkxaa?dl=0

[George Gluecksmann]

Some windward mark pics to keep Lee busy for a few minutes.  A lot of leeward mark pics to follow in a day or so.  https://www.dropbox.com/sh/8lfubncrgiofgp5/AAC4IKM0lOBZJYVlX8BYPkxaa?dl=0

Peter, thanks for the pics link; wicked windward rounding, we sure missed an epic event. Wow! 

[Lee Shuckerow]

Now your talking. Thanks Peter

[Michelle Lee]

What a fantastic event!  Amazing people, beautiful club, competitive racing between friendly sailors - just all around wonderful.  From the generous hosting to the debriefs with the top experts sharing their secrets, this was a top notch regatta.

And if there was ever any question about the Corinthian spirit of the fleet, not one but two separate Viper owners were generous enough to pass when their names were called to win a free bottom cover (aren't those things about $600?) in order to let the bottom cover go to a team that didn't have one, because the people whose names were first chosen already had bottom covers.  That was a true reflection of the level of "class" of this class.

Larchmont set the bar very, very high for all future events and I can't thank Peter, Buttons and all the Larchmont hosts enough for all their hard work.  Thank you for making us all feel welcome.  We can't wait to sail with all our friends again.

[Peter Beardsley]

Pics from the signal boat from Days 2, 3, and 4 by Sandy Weed.  https://www.flickr.com/photos/96738300@N03/sets/72157659953125915 -- still more to come

[Peter Beardsley]

And some more signal boat photos from Linda Berkeley Weiss.
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/8tycolpgy9n713f/AAB30ZToCHjkty0XMAQQbgAga?oref=e&n=132140013

[Peter Beardsley]

Also, if anyone has any GoPro footage (doesn't matter whether it is edited or not), let me know and I'll send you a Dropbox link for you to upload it -- we'll take care of the editing.