OK, we are locked and loaded for what would have been the 9th year of the Sarasota Viper Winter Series.... Heck, since I had a few Viper owners register their Vipers this last series, then we all end up sailing chartered/borrowed VXOnes in the majority of the three epic(safe) events we ran down here (great to sail against you, Henry and Peter)... I am just going to call it year 9 of the series coming up.
2021-22 Sarasota Viper/VX Dates
Dec 11-12, 2021
Jan 15-16, 2022
Feb 19-20, 2022
Mar 18-20, 2022
The March dates are three days and are a part of what will probably be the Sarasota One Design Mid Winters and as usual, we will have our own circle if the Vipers keep it on the schedule and it works with or around Miami for us.
Please do me a personal favor (in any what you get the chance on social media or otherwise) and express thanks to the SSS staff and its members for the continued support. I encourage Viper class members that are planning on spending 4 months sailing in Sarasota to consider joining as ?snowbirds?. With four months of non-member storage, it may be a wash on cost and would help the SSS!
Miss you all,
Travis
Great news, thanks Travis. We are planning to be back in Sarasota this winter, and hopefully many others will be able to join. Great place to sail and Sarasota weather in the winter is wonderful. Plus maybe for those who are able to work remotely more flexibly going forward, it could be even easier to find flights at inexpensive times of day to travel.
From Travis for those who missed the email:
If you are receiving this email it is because I wanted to get this info to you so you can help coordinate getting boats registered to sail down here in Sarasota this winter.
The Squadron is in great shape and The Board, Membership, our new Manger Alyssa Thomas and myself are all looking forward to hosting a great series this winter.
A couple quick points:
1) Both the Viper and VX Ones are able to sail four events this winter if they wish to. That is Dec, Jan, Feb, March (Miami March is Mar 9-12th and Sarasota 3-day Mar 18-20th)
Registration for Sarasota?s march event will be separate form anything I am managing as it will be a part of the Sarasota OneDesign Mid Winters event.
2) As noted in the Notice of Race (Series), we will be limiting each individual Dec-Jan event to 50 total boats. Each class will get 25 spots and if one class has not used their spots by 14 days before an individual event, I will open the spots up to a class that has maxed out their 25. The Squadron is a super busy place post pandemic (membership is at an all time high) and I do not wish to manage (ashore or afloat) Viper/VX events with more then 50 boats total.
3) I have changed the way I am doing registration and have moved to having three individual event registrations on Regatta Network. The Admin and user experience of the single event page for the three events never worked out well and Regatta Network has a good way to do series scoring that ties single event together.
Here are the three event registration pages and dates for use on FB, Forums and Class Pages/Calendars:
Event #1 Dec 11-12th- https://www.regattanetwork.com/event/23403
Event #2 Jan 15-16th- https://www.regattanetwork.com/event/23404
Event #3 Feb 19-20th- https://www.regattanetwork.com/event/23405
Event #4 March 18,19,20th- TDB as part of the ODMW
4) It is my intention to have MarkSet Bots in use at all events with an ability to have two weather marks (different colors) so courses can be changed as needed for each fleet without waiting. That is not fully confirmed but was magic last winter and I really think it is the way forward for multi-class course race management.
Thank you all for your support and I hope to see your registration soon and look forward to sailing with you again soon!
Best,
Travis
Meow! is in! It's actually easier for me to keep the boat at the Squadron than up here in Massachusetts, plus I get to go down and sail her once a month! Can't wait!
Should be a good fleet! Please reach out to me if you have any questions on logistics/how-to. I've been down ~6 years now, and it never gets old.. :)
OK everyone, in three short days the VXOne fleet managed to get 20 boats registered for the first event in Dec..... 32 boats registered for the Jan event, and 27 boats registered for the Feb event.
I put in place the 25 boats per fleet cap to keep the overall footprint on the water and one land at 50 boats. So the VXOne class has 7 boats wait-listed for Jan and 2 boats waitlisted for Feb as of right now....
To be fair to the long-term planning for all involved and to best react to the true demand from both fleets, I need to ask you to register and pay ASAP, for the events you are planning to come down and join us for.
Huge thanks,
Travis
20 Vipers signed up so far for each of the 3 events - only 5 slots left. Good start but if you want to sail, sign up and pay ASAP.
And--if you have any Sarasota logistics questions, definitely feel free to reach out to me! It's going to be a good time!
Only 1 spot left for December and 3 for Jan & Feb.
Anyone know of a longer storage option if bringing the boat down a few weeks early and/or storing a vehicle down in the area ?
Bill
Hi Bill,
I'm sure you can store the boat at the Squadron. If you find car storage options, I'm interested too :) See you in December/January!
Cheers,
Cole
For those who missed the news, the VXs are moving their winter series away from Sarasota - hopefully a win-win, esp. for Vipers, as the cap on the number of Vipers is now 50 boats instead of 25 boats, but let's get as many people signed up as early as possible to allow teams enough time to make travel plans.
Wow, that's quite the change. What brought this about?
In all honesty, I think it will be nice. Lift for launching, dock space, and now we can have more than 25 boats.
VX One Sailors,
Following the decision by Sarasota Sailing Squadron to limit the winter series to 25 boats, cap on site storage to 25 VX Ones and Vipers combined, and demand estimated to be 50 boats for the January regatta, the VX One class has elected to relocate the series to Pensacola Yacht Club for this winter. Over the past few weeks, the board of directors has evaluated potential venues with the criteria being that the venue be able to accommodate 50-75 VX Ones with room for even more growth, provide mast up storage all winter long for all boats, and have a hoist on site. On Friday the board voted to select PYC as the host venue for the 2021-22 VX One Winter Series.
With over 42 VX Ones registering for the Winter Series in under a week, it was clear that we needed to find a new venue that could support such significant growth so that we did not have to turn away sailors from participating in the series and complicate logistics for sailors coming in from out of town. Pensacola Yacht Club is eager to host the VX fleet and we are hopeful that we will build a successful partnership with them.
The winter series this year will take place over the same dates as previously scheduled with two changes based on the feedback from the board and fleet captains.
#1 December 11-12
#2 January 15-17 (extra day of racing added for the Midwinter Championship)
#3 February 19-20
We will not host an event in March in an effort to have teams support Bacardi Miami
(March 10-12) and Charleston Race Week (April 29-May 1).
The two most common questions we expect are ?What about the entry fee I paid for the
Sarasota series?? and ?Isn?t it colder in Pensacola?? We have been in contact with Sarasota who have agreed to refund the entry fees to those who already paid. We expect the entry fee and storage costs for the Pensacola series to be the same or less than Sarasota. The temperature in Pensacola is on average 9-10 degrees colder than Sarasota, but the board felt that the potential to have a 50 boat event is worth the potential for it being a little colder.
Please bear with us over the next couple of weeks as we finalize the registration and NOR for the series, and we thank you for your patience while we have had to shift gears. Thanks to the hard work of some very dedicated sailors, we are excited about the prospect of hosting some of the biggest VX One events ever.
Regards,
The VX One Board of Directors
Chris Alexander, Jay Harrell, Jeff Eiber, Mike Marshall, Ashley Maltempo, Rod Favela, Bob Maccini, Michael Norris, Sam Padnos, Mike Lechner, Karl Kleinschrodt, Tim Pitts, Brian Bennett, and Justin Quigg
www.vxone.org
Hey! I crewed this summer on SURF #74 in Thunder Bay, Ontario - Lake Superior. Spinnaker and a bit of tactics. Currently available for event 2 or 3 in Sarasota.
Female, 140 lbs, strong, good vibes.
Charter for Miami wanted!
If your boat is in Sarasota and you don't intend to do Miami, a Viper owner from Italy wants to charter a boat for the Bacardi Invitational.
If you are willing to consider a charter, please get in touch with me or directly with Oriano at
<
[email protected] >.
Steve Chapman
288 Oshunmare
Hey All,
Just another poke to try to get the whole crowd together down here for some great Viper-ing. I have a couple more folks saying they are planning to come but have not registered, so I figured I would post the links again and tell ya how much I appreciate being able to pre-plan for the fleet size! We will be good for storage onsite Dec-Feb for all boats that are registered for the three events and if you are only coming for one or two events, I can probably work out a way to store your boat off-site if it is make or break for you.
Look forward to see many of you again soon,
Travis
Event #1 Dec 11-12th- https://www.regattanetwork.com/event/23403
Event #2 Jan 15-16th- https://www.regattanetwork.com/event/23404
Event #3 Feb 19-20th- https://www.regattanetwork.com/event/23405
Im going to come down no matter what for event 3 (potentially leading to Bacardi or hitting up an event / extra race lessons prior at SB). Hoping someone needs a hand mid-ship crew. Also just super happy to volunteer and be a part of the fun if there is any work to be done or help in any way - pretty handy and game to be busy for the event :)
Crew available for events 1,2,and 3. Please reach out if you need crew for either of these!
Can't wait! Marblehead fleet has two boats already sitting at the club.
Meow! will be arriving next Wednesday or so from Boston, timed so that I meet my teammate RonJon from Sarnia, towing Jackpot in the family minivan, at the Irish Pub (or Salty Dog?).. Going to be fun ya'll!
Oshunmare is there waiting for everyone to arrive!
We fly in Wednesday pm, planning to rig Friday morning.
See you there!
Great Scott is at SSS and ready for the winter series. The super early weekend forecast for Event # 1 is SSW 7-12 kts with a few higher gusts both days, sun, and air temperatures in the high 70s / low 80s. Chamber of Commerce conditions - hopefully a bunch of stragglers can get their boats there this week to supplement the 25 teams already on the scratch sheet.
Wow, I can't believe how much I had missed Sarasota! It was so great to be back as a class. The racing was excellent this past weekend...can't wait for January!
Cheers,
Cole
Happy New Year.
Arrive SRQ 10.02 am, Friday Jan 14th. United Airlines.
Useful tip for those who have not discovered Andrew Levy's new airline, Avelo. They fly direct from New Haven Ct to SRQ. The return flight on Sunday from SRQ at 7.45 pm is $39.
https://www.aveloair.com/destinations#route-map
Something new that you can only find here on the Forums for now - breaking news until it reaches the blast email for the January event (which we are posting here for the benefit of those not yet signed up):
From the late night imagination of Peter Beardsley comes the first ever Viper Mentor-Mentee Subchampionship. You're playing for beer and bragging rights (Peter is buying the beer, and he promises to make it better than what he buys for his own Viper), and everyone is entered. The goal is to further the spirit of cooperation and collaboration that the Viper fleet is famous for. Peter will pair boats based on December regatta results (i.e., first with last, second with second to last, etc. - if you weren't there or if someone is missing, or if there are an odd number of teams, accommodations will be made) - we'll tell you the pairings at the competitors meeting on Saturday morning and hope that the "teams" will check over each other's boats before leaving the dock, tune on the way to and from the racecourse, and share notes on and off the water (but NOT give each other any additional inches than you would give anyone else on the racecourse). The three biggest improvements on a combined score/percentage basis vs. December after Day 1 get a six pack per team and lots of bragging rights, and we'll repair teams on Sunday based on Saturday scores, with new chances to win on Sunday. We have no idea if this will work, but we want people to use it as an opportunity to meet some other folks in the fleet and share ideas.
Quote from: Peter Beardsley on January 05, 2022, 06:03:20 PM
From the late night imagination of Peter Beardsley comes the first ever Viper Mentor-Mentee Subchampionship. You're playing for beer and bragging rights (Peter is buying the beer, and he promises to make it better than what he buys for his own Viper), and everyone is entered. The goal is to further the spirit of cooperation and collaboration that the Viper fleet is famous for. Peter will pair boats based on December regatta results (i.e., first with last, second with second to last, etc. - if you weren't there or if someone is missing, or if there are an odd number of teams, accommodations will be made) - we'll tell you the pairings at the competitors meeting on Saturday morning and hope that the "teams" will check over each other's boats before leaving the dock, tune on the way to and from the racecourse, and share notes on and off the water (but NOT give each other any additional inches than you would give anyone else on the racecourse). The three biggest improvements on a combined score/percentage basis vs. December after Day 1 get a six pack per team and lots of bragging rights, and we'll repair teams on Sunday based on Saturday scores, with new chances to win on Sunday. We have no idea if this will work, but we want people to use it as an opportunity to meet some other folks in the fleet and share ideas.
Peter....just some quick feedback. This idea started to work and we enjoyed it. It allowed us to meet a Viper team we had not hung out with before and between each race we did a little tuning. Sunday's "blow off" prevented you taking it to the next level...and it will probably take some time to get traction, but I would continue with the idea.
One note...its not easy to claim those inches at the expense of your tag team mate and friends. After chatting and sharing tune numbers between the race, it is kinda hard to leave them pinned in bad air all the way to the lay line when they are trapped to leeward. If it was the World Championships and we were in the running, I might have sailed on two extra boat lengths to tack on lay, but in Sarasota with our tag team to leeward, we decide our proper course was to tack :)
Great idea. Lets do it again!