Geographe Bay Race Week - sailing, waves and wine

[Jon Stubbs]

Geographe Bay is just north of Margaret River, Western Australia. You can't beat the venue - In between racing, there are the local wineries and good surf at Yallingup and Margaret River so it's got it all.

About 100 boats have turned up in about five sailing divisions. Unfortunately the sports boat fleet is down on numbers this year. Only 8 boats. The good thing -  6 are Vipers
Three of the Vipers are brand new and out for their first sail. The fleet also includes a brand new Shaw 650 and a Melges 24.
Winds have been light - about 8 to 10 knots.
So far we have had a 20 mile passage race on the first day and three windward/ leewards on the second.
Peter Chalmer's Shaw 650 showed great speed downwind to win the  three hour passage race overall by a 10 minute margin from Tim Reger sailing a Viper. On SMS handicap, the Viper won by 10 seconds from the Shaw with Rod Beurteax in another Viper third.
On day two the racing on the windward/ leeward course was close, with many lead changes. The Vipers dominated the day. The Shaw won one race over the line and Rod Beurteaux in the Viper won the other two.
Vipers  were 1,2,3 in all races on SMS (Sportsboat Measuring System)

In the light conditions the Vipers proved to be quicker than the Shaw upwind and were able to sail lower angles downwind and break even or not lose too much distance.

Today is a medium passage race with the promise of more wind.

[Dan Tucker]

Thanks for the report Jon! I have to admit I'm surprised, I was assuming the Shaw would blow away the Viper in pretty much all conditions boat for boat. I'll be curious how it goes with more breeze...

[Justin Scott]

Holy Crap.

Go the Aussie Vipers!  This gets front page......please please send us some pics!

[Jon Stubbs]

Yeah, it's surprised us a bit too.
We thought we would be blown out of the water by the Shaw as well.
While it is a brand new Shaw 650, the sails look well trimmed, it had the factory guys come over and set it up and there are a few kiwis sailing it so they should know a bit about it.
Considering they have so much sail area in working sails they haven't done as well upwind as we expected. I'm no naval architect but we think the Viper has a better shape for upwind work. We have not had any trouble against them upwind. We seem to be as quick or better in all the wind ranges we have sailed (4 - 22k).  The Shaw may carry too much volume too far forward. In a chop they seemed to struggle.

Downwind they are awsome. When the wind is up a bit and not too tight they will cane most boats.
The Viper on windward/leewards has more than held their own in the lighter breezes, being able to soak lower. The Shaw seemed to have to sail higher angles and the VMG's weren't as good.

On a  passage race with a 5 mile, tight reach the other day the Viper creamed them. They had to two sail reach while the Viper with smaller sails were flat out (17.5 Knots)

This is what makes the Viper a great boat , our heavy air rig is our light air rig - simpicity.
.. but it is also competitive against any sports boat we have sailed against in Aus.


Apart from all the sailing crap, there are six Vipers crews having a great time down hereat Geo Bay. We have our own  chase boat with its esky (chiller), house on the canal, so live is sweet in the viper pit.

[Jon Stubbs]

Day 5
Windward /Leewards at 6 - 12 knots

It was a light day, 34 degrees, blue skys - life is good when you should be working and you are sailing.

Vipers had a good day with 1,2,3 finishes on handicap in all three races. Rod Beurteax in a Viper had two wins on handicap and Chris O'Keefe continued to have a consistent regatta to record a win in the third race.

Over the Line Rod won race one, Peter Chalmers in the Shaw 650 screamed through on the last leg to take race two and Chris O'Keefe led from start to finish in race three.

Tim Reger in a Viper had three seconds and continues to perform well and sit in second position overall behind Beurteaux with Chris O'Keefe third.

The Vipers picked the shifty conditions well to gain good leads at the first mark each time. In the lighter conditions they were able to soak lower on the runs and maintain their leads at the bottom mark. The Shaw 650's angles seemed a bit higher than the Vipers but when the wind strengthened they were able to use their bigger kite more effectively and to make big gains quickly.

Vipers and other light sports boats have been criticised for their light keel weight but it proved an advantage when Murray Howson on a Viper blew up his spinaker halyard block. Murray and his crew capsized his boat between races and attached a new block and finished third in the last race. Photos to follow.

Two passage races remain to decide the regatta

[Dan Tucker]

Apart from all the sailing crap, there are six Vipers crews having a great time down hereat Geo Bay. We have our own  chase boat with its esky (chiller), house on the canal, so live is sweet in the viper pit.

Even better to see that the true Viper spirit has successfully migrated to OZ!

Before you know it, there will be 10 crews, then 14, then 18 and so on... Nothing grows a class like sailors having FUN!

[Jon Stubbs]

Well Geographe Bay Race Week is done and dusted for another year.
Many bleary eyes after a party at the Viper pit last night before the last passage race this morning.

Rod Beurteaux had already won the series with a race to spare and on the way into the marina the previous night had perched his Viper on a lump inside the marina - now known as Beurteaux's Boulder. He decided not to sail the last race. They are considering putting a lighthouse on the point to avoid future catastrophes.
The things some people do to avoid passage races in light winds !!!!

Results Day 7
Passage Race 15 Miles
5 - 10 knots (again!!!)
As with most of the passage races the first leg to a (true) upwind buoy proved decisive in the final results.. It was follow the leader after that with few position changes. The Melges held a couple of minute lead for much of the race.
Over the line it was Melges, V, Shaw, V, V,V, V
After fifteen miles it was great to see four Vipers and the Shaw all close, swapping tacks, up the last true upwind leg.
Chris O'Keefe sailing Snake Charmer sailed a great race to finish first on SMS , followed by John Parkes in a brand new Viper, Terry Foster in the Melges, Tim Reger and Murray Howson in Vipers and Peter Chalmers in the new Shaw 650 .

The Viper Chase Boat
The Viper chase boat has been put to good use during the regatta.
Each morning the crews have been delivered to their boats in the marina.
At night , with the Viper pit on the canal, the Viper "Taxi" has delivered crews back to the Viper pit avoiding the local constabulary after many sherbets, although if they had the water police out the other night they might have stopped us - bit obvious reversing all the way home with a boat full of rowdy sailors.

Rod and his crew of Jon and Jim watched the last race, looking on in awe of the TP62, Limit in DIV 1.
They also took orders and delivered take away coffees half way through the race. -The Viper Bean

Its been a fun regatta for all and hopefully we'll see increased fleet numbers next year.

Series results are:
Rod Beurteaux - Viper 640 - 1st
Tim Reger - Viper 640 - 2nd
Chris O'Keefe - Viper 640 - 3rd
John Parkes    - Viper 640 - 4th
Murray Howson - Viper 640 - 5th
Terry Foster - Melges 24 - 6th
Peter Chalmers - Shaw 650 - 7th
Ken Begley    - Viper 650 - 8th

Special Mentions
Congratulations to John Parkes and his crew "Skid" and "Scotch Whiskey" for a great effort. The boat was one of the brand new ones launched at Geographe Bay Race Week. Unfamiliar crew in a new boat. Well done!!!

Murray Howson and his crew of Marco "The Magnificent" and Craig sailed one of the older Vipers with well worn sails to a a great 5th. Can we get them to change from the Bulls to the Vipers? An Albany Viper pit??



Oregami

[Dave Nickerson]

Sounds great!  Pictures???
As sails out there yet from Skid Sail DESIGN the new local class sailmaker?