Fort Worth Heineken Regatta

[Drake Borer]

Just got back from a stellar weekend of racing in Fort Worth, TX.  Saturday was good sailing with a steady breeze of 10-15 knts.  We got 4 races in.  7 Vipers at the line made for our own fleet.  Results were hotly contested.  Two teams (Felipe Payette and Steve Flunker) tied for first, and two teams (myself and Jeff Jones) tied for third.  Unfortunately the wind died and we weren't able to get any races in today.  The tie break went to Felipe - congrats!!


Thank you to the Fort Worth Boat Club for showing phenomenal hospitality, and thanks to Steve and Jeff for once again providing a lively "car bar" scene.  Excellent regatta, really a blast!!

P.S. you can see the first day of racing on the Kattack website (unfortunately my transponder wasn't working, so the SeaMonkey was in stealth mode).  Joe Sicerly generously provide the Kattack.  Thanks to all!

[Steve LeMay]

Here is just a taste of what people missed. Our new Viper Mascot, Bella Uglydoll. She loves crude sailors that are drunk..

[Felipe Payet]

what a fantastic time!   My liver suffered a bit (that damned snake bar is too well stocked!) and I'm still recovering from the heat, but wow, what a fun time.

Thanks to our host Viperer Steve Flunker, Mr. LeMay for letting the fleet crash at his Cabana, and to the Ft. Worth Boat Club for hosting a great event.

It was my first viper regatta in quite a while (work keeps getting in the way, damnit), and it was a hoot!  Thanks to a fantastic crew that told me where to put the boat, we did well.  Thank you, Joe and John (aka Sideshow Bob)!

Like Drake said, big thanks to Joe Sircely and Morgan Stanley Smith Barney for sponsoring the Kattack replays of the Viper fleet.  Check out the link below for all of Saturday's races:

http://americanregatta.com/regattas/2010/fwbc_vipers/
 
And speaking of Drake, congrats to Drake and Mandy Borer on SeaMonkey (now you see monkey, now you don't!) for really ripping it up on the course.   Damn, man!  before long we're all going to be chasing YOU!

Fortunately, we managed to not get ourselves kicked out of the pool on Saturday evening, although I think it may have been close.  I have a feeling we were probably a bit rowdier than the Ft. Worth Boat Club elders would've liked!  :-)  As a good chunk of the Viper fleet soaked in the pool to cool off from a blistering hot day, two 6-foot tall inflatable Bacardi bottles mysteriously found their way into the water.  The Viper fleet of course took that as a challenge to attempt to RIDE said bottles.  Hilarity ensued.   

And finally, Jeff Jones has set a new world record for commissioning speed of new boats.  A container with two new boats arrived at his shop (a 3 hour drive away from the regatta) at 9:30pm Friday night.  Barely 12 hours later, the Jones family had splashed the new "Animal" and was getting ready to race.  AMAZING.

It was an awesome time.  Thanks everyone for a really special weekend.  Mental batteries are now recharged, and I can't wait for our next event.

Austin Governor's Cup, the last stop on our TX 2010 Viper Circuit, is going to be EPIC.  Anyone within driving distance, make plans NOW to come join us on the race course and at the notorious (or infamous?) Viper Car Bar.

Cheers,
F.