Whaddya Call a Viper with no bulb on the keel? wild Animal

[Phillip Davis]

Would someone please put Jonesy back on his ADHD meds?  Now he's gone an yanked the bulb off his keel and turned his Viper 640 into some kinda hermaphrodite dinghy :).  From the results  today, looks like he terrorized his competitors in Portsmouth Dinghy A into submission...they were all DNS!

http://www.regattanetwork.com/clubmgmt/applet_regatta_results.php?regatta_id=4072&show_crew=1

Rumor has it he's returning next weekend with the bulb back and a 400hp IO jetdrive attached!

[Justin Scott]

Rumor has it that Jonesy put the peruvian out on a trapeze. Now that is fast!

Meanwhile I'm enjoying some time in the Big Easy. Great parties. Horrible boats. Can someone explain to me why they call these floating bathtubs "flying" Scots?

[Jeff Jones]

I admit, I was a little nervous going out today with winds predicted to be 15...  And no lead.  Thank goodness that they were wrong.   Mid 20s with some pretty big gusts.  We were the only boat in our fleet to finish the last race.

Vipers are very, very fast down wind with a centerboard.  Uphill we our target speed was between 6.5 and 7 knots.
   
No Peruvian today, had a regular from borers monkey boat and new viper owner with me.   Tomorrow, Felipe will be sailing with us.

[Tim Carter]

Jeffy....  you having fun without adult supervision again?   sign me up dude, we will push her till  she quivers...  :)

[Jeff Jones]

Three races today in light air.  Boat is stupid fast in those conditions without the drag.   Could have probably lapped most of our fleet including some very well sailed international canoes.

[Felipe Payet]

Jeff, thanks again for the invite to race with you guys today.  Yes, the Peruvian is BACK!

That was an absolute hoot today...  it may have been light air (I'm bummed I missed the hair-on-fire action yesterday), but as Jeff said, the Viper is just stupid-fast in light air with no lead bulb to drag around the race course. 

And as an extra treat, since there wasn't enough breeze to get out on the wire while racing today, the guys were kind enough to sit on the low side on our way back in to the dock, so I could take a shot at driving the boat from the trapeze wire.  Now THAT was cool!  Hangin' out there flying over the water, tiller extension in one hand, mainsheet in the other, looking down at that kick-ass centerboard slicing through the water.   What a ride.

Thanks again, Jeff!

[Brian Shores]

Jeff, did you guys wipe out at all when it was blowing the first day?  I'm interested on how stable the boat was downwind, especially through the gybes.  Any max speed data?

[Jeff Jones]

We had zero drama.

Not sure if was because the boat was moving that must faster or because i was more careful, but i never felt like we were even close to being out of control downwind.   Never even an "oops" moment. 

Moving around the boat while the sails were down was a bit crazy, but once sails were up i really didn't notice the bulb missing.

Not sure what our max speed was.  Not sure it was all that faster when it was nuking...  big difference in the transition breeze and HUGE in light air. 

[Justin Scott]

This post from Dave K on Sailing Anarchy:-

"turned into a brutal gust fest with survival mode in the end. First race was good. Second the wind started blowing marks around so they abandoned.Then the puffs came and stayed. I went in to get rid of jib and so did half of my fleet. They had one more race but only the lead-less Viper finished in my group. Ultra did well.  A Day Sailor, Harpoon and Thistle went tipsy on our course. Heard a FS also lost it but didn't see it. Crazy wind with gust to 30."

Jeff has really shown what a powerful and  balanced machine, the bulb-less Viper can be, even in big breeze.

Many of us suspected, but Jeff showed it. Love to hear more about any handling characteristics.
I suspect that less liable to broach (less weight to trip over), but if you had gone, you probably would have gone the whole way very quickly.

I think of my bulb as like the 4th man. His only role is once I go over, he helps slow down the capsize and right the boat . When the boat is flat, he isnt doing anything except dragging his sorry a$$ through the water.


 

[Jeff Jones]

Now that i think about it, i believe Justin's on to something. 

That bulb way down there is pretty much acting as a lever, trying to roll the boat up on it's forward quarter.   When a puff hits', it might be the acceleration that makes the boat want to broach?   

Like Dave said, one race started with wind in the high teens and we'd get these micro-bursts that were really gnarley.   The boat never, ever felt like it wanted to go down, it just went forward (fast). 

That said, we discussed sticking a noodle against the top few feet of the mast just in case.   Winds were forcast for 13.  Had i know, we would have sacrificed the cool points.

[Justin Scott]

I saw the mast noodles that North are making for all the 420s in Annapolis following that tragic accident they had last summer.

I thought to myself that they might be "reverse cool" on a Viper. They dont look so bad-Triangle cut to exact same shape as top of mainsail with big North logo. + it says "I dont have a bulb on my foil".  The North logo could be replaced by a something a bit more gnarly - like a seamonkey? and wear it only when I dont have a bulb.  ?????

[Drew Harper]

I WANT ONE

(Viper Daggerboard)

[Justin Scott]

I WANT ONE

(Viper Daggerboard)

Seriously for a moment (if that is possible on a thread anchored by Jeff), Jeff and I talked about this. I am having a centerboard made. It sounds like some others are up for it as well. We can either each run what we brung which will be fun in its own way, or we could put our heads together and agree on some dimensions and have a one-design centerboard.
A one-design board might be cheaper if we asked Ben P to make a mold and run off a batch order.

How many would be interested?

[Jim Sears]

Count me in for one.

[Terry Phillips]

Justin,
Would a centerboard be substantially different than a stock Rondar/Viper keel
without a bulb (keel alone about 50 lbs,yes) ???