Fall Fling

[Michael Gravitt]

For those that were at HPDO, you may remember the crew of Bitten talking about the Fall Fling in Hampton. Two days of OD racing in Hampton Va. Oyster Roast and good times. November 10th and 11th. Water is still warm and the Oysters are great this time of year. Contact Steve at [email protected]. Short notice to some but there is already two boats here and would love to show off the class to everyone here. You can also contact me at [email protected].

[Kay VanValkenburgh]

Sounds like a blast, Michael - I'm putting it on my calendar and will stay in touch about whether we can be there!

[Peter Beardsley]

NOR for the Fall Fling is attached. 

I am told by Tyler Moore and Dan Tucker that there are at least a half dozen Chesapeake area Viper prospects who would like to sail at this regatta -- if you want to bring your boat down and have crew provided, reach out to those guys - [email protected] and [email protected]

Let's see if we can come up with a running scratch sheet here:
44
181
182
98 (maybe)

Anyone else? 

[Michael Gravitt]

Getting close to the Fall Fling.  Anyone interested, I have room for a crew at my house if needed. Hope to get enough boats for a start.

[Dan Tucker]

We had 3 boats out for this one. Michael Gravitt, Barry Allardice and I. Light on Saturday when we got in 3 3-lap 0.4 mile leg races. It was fun to do short legs with lots of roundingis. RC did a nice job managing the course lenghts for the various classes, so everyone finished and didn't wait around for the next start. Breeze was even lighter (non-existent) on Sunday -no racing. Barry won, with HYC Commodore David Eberwine at the helm.

I would classify this as a successful event. Tony Bowker flew in from Chicago to try a Viper, and ordered one on Sunday. We now have 2 highly enthusiastic spark plugs in Chicago.  Note: Tony is brewer (and another ex-pat Brit), who recently sold his Goose Island Beer Company to Anheuser Busch, the Viper is his retirement present to himself. Very interesting to go out to a bar with Tony and let him order! Look for Goose Island to be sponsoring and promoting the heck out of the Viper in Chicago. Two influential sailors at Hampton YC sailed with us as well. They're enthused about the Viper and are looking for a couple more HYC members to join with them in launching a fleet.

Big thanks to Mike and especially Barry traveling from NYC, for getting out to a little local event to promote the Class. This was only Barry's 3rd Viper event, and he was out there helping promote the Class. Well Done!

This will be a great little low-key fall getaway regatta next year with a very hospitable local fleet. There was a  great pot-luck dinner with oyster roast at someone's house on Saturday night, fantastic! Will be a nice opportunity to move your boat south early, as I believe there will be storage options. Would make a nice stop on the way back north in the spring too...