Viper SOARS to Victory

[Garrett Johns]

In news from our neighbors to the north (Canada if you don't have a compass handy), the 35th annual SOAR (Squamish Open Annual Regatta) was held this past weekend in British Columbia. The SOAR Regatta is know for breeze, a huge array of assorted PHRF race boats, and the usual good parties. Our own John Leyland and crew on 191, the lone Viper in the event, put the smack down on the Long Course Fleet winning the overall against 29 other yachts, including almost every sort of 20 - 40 ft boat you can think of! As you can imagine, the Viper created some serious conversation in the aftermath thanks to another well sailed Snake! Here is a brief recap of the racing by John himself along with results (look at Long Course results)
"The race was a little over 20 miles total.  Not your typical SOAR with a building inflow due to the weather :-(  We had a couple of transition areas with everything from 15-18 to 0 so a premium on switching gears and uphill/downhill sails.... Easy to do on the Viper.
We did have about 10 minutes or so of planing at 14-15 knots where we viperized those around us and allowed us to reel in the front of the pack.  They really disappeared in the rear view mirror.
With our last 2 PHRF regattas people have started to take notice!
http://squamishsoar.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/SOAR-2015-RESULTS-Final.pdf