Viper 640 North American's | A Different Perspective

Photo Credit:  Joy Sailing

Viper 640 NA’s were held in near perfect conditions in Long Beach and hosted by Alamitos Bay Yacht Club (ABYC).  Tim Carter, local Viper leader, rallied the troops and set up a hugely successful event that left everyone smiling ear to ear.  The wind was epic and 34 boats marched around the racecourse hitting speeds of 15+kts. 

Usually we hear about the top end of the fleet but this year I would like to tell our story from the middle of the pack.

Photo Credit: Joy Sailing

Photo Credit: Joy Sailing

Craig Walker purchased a Viper 640 last year and has been working hard to get his sailing skills sharpened.  When I signed on with him he told me he was a newbie.  Newbie to driving and racing a boat.  Our team also included long time West Coast Big Boat Sailor Daniel Milefchik.  Dan actually drove the first day because Craig had to work… someone has to support this sport!

Our goal was to be competitive, learn, not make too many mistakes and have a great time.  Craig was eager to get moving on Thursday and showed up after 10am (This is late!).  He must have had a late night flight and needed the rest because it was game on.  Big wind and waves greeted us on the outside course and we set up our boat for the conditions.  This was Craig’s first race of the NA’s for him and we talked about being conservative.  This is a good tactic in a large fleet when the driver is not super comfortable at trying to cross boats on a full plane!  After a few tacks clearing our air we headed out in our own little lane and hit the right side of the course.  Much to our surprise a top ten mark rounding was in store for us!.

We held on with some good tactics and after a close finish with fellow friends on Locomotion we managed to hold on for a 10^th place.  This would end up being our best result of the regatta and a highlight. 

Photo Credit: Joy Sailing | Team FNG Flying!

I learned a few things about managing myself in the situations that arose.  The more calm I was, the more calm Craig was.  Which was also true on the opposite end.   I had my moments when my emotions got the better of me, usually at a leeward mark rounding when we were coming in on port doing 13kts.  With 35 boats zipping around the course it was important to keep Craig comfortable.  Avoiding port laylines and ensuring we were in commanding positions became crucial.  It is amazing how much better we did when we sailed away from the riff-raff. 

The final day came and with three races left we had a goal to be in the top 20 and beat the boats around us.  Craig was getting better with every tack and Dan was doing a really good job of talking to him about speed and shifting gears.  This made it easier for me to keep my head out of the boat.  One thing that worked well was being a little over layline at the weather mark.  The final day saw a lot of boats trying to push the laylines which resulted in collisions and people hitting the mark.  We would pass 5-7 boats by coming in high with speed and going over everyone. 

Photo Credit: Joy Sailing | Locomotion getting hooked on a mark

Let’s talk about the wind for a minute.  20-25kts of wind every day makes for some exciting and almost dangerous downwind legs.  We were cautious in setting and used the blow through gybes to keep us safe.  We only had a few crashes and were able to get out of those situations rather quickly with a release of the spinnaker halyard.  It is very intense doing 14kts into a leeward mark so you need to have your you know what together. 

Photo Credit: Joy Sailing

Photo Credit: Joy Sailing

In the end we had an amazing time.   We all learned and we all had fun which is what this sport is about… right?

Keith Magnussen

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Ullman Sails Long Beach Race Week-Mid Regatta Report

Ullman Sails Long Beach Race Week (LBRW) is in full swing and the action on the water is coming to a climax with one more day of racing left.  Saturday's racing saw wind in the teens and some reports of puffs in the low 20's.  LBRW is Southern California's premiere regatta and plays host to some of the hottest boats around the area.  2013 is also a great year for one design racing as ten closely contested fleets are battling it out on three different race courses.  Erik Shampain, on board the dominant Dark Star in the Farr 40 fleet, had this to say, "The racing has been extremely close with multiple boats being overlapped at every mark rounding.  We have managed to stay out in front by staying out of trouble and having clean races.  The new Ullman 1.5s Spinnaker is proving very fast and has certainly helped us extend on the downwind legs."  With two races to go Dark Star has a ten point lead over her nearest rival.

John Laun on his J-120 Caper is searching for boat of the week honors as his team have won every race in the 11 boat fleet.  Sean Smith from team J Almighty claimed this was the largest J-120 fleet he has sailed in.  LBRW is part of the J-120 fleets yearly series.  They combine buoy and coastal races to make up a rather interesting and competitive high point series.

The addition of random leg courses has breathed life into PHRF and added another dimension of racing.  From TP-52's to Cal 2-29's there is a place for everyone in this regatta.  The random leg courses see boats travel around Los Angeles harbor and up into the legendary Hurricane Gulch where the wind always seems to be a little stronger.  Jack Mayer on his Express 34 are winning class 3 in this division and are looking forward to one more race and a podium finish.

The largest fleet at LBRW is the popular Viper 640 which happen to be hosting Viper 640 North American's in 2014 on the same race course.  The highly competitive fleet is stacked with match racing pro's, I-14 rockstars and local gurus.  Last years champion Jim Sears is sitting in fourth while relatively new owner Kevin Taugher is showing how consistency wins regattas as he is constantly challenging for the top spots.

Sunday is shaping up to be a great day and nothing is for certain as the top boats need to perform well in order to stake their claim as champions.  For full results click here...

Ullman Sails Newport Beach is providing live updates and pictures from the water via their FaceBook Page.  Follow along and post your comments!

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Viper Turkey Day Tune Up

Turkey Day Tune Up at ABYC

Alamitos Bay Yacht Club is host to one of the largest annual small boat regattas on the West Coast, the annual Turkey Day Regatta.   I remember doing this regatta as a youth in Lasers in freezing cold weather in 30kts of breeze and knew the conditions would dictate the event.  Local Viper rep Tim Carter has been asking for a clinic for sometime and Turkey Day seemed like the perfect time to get something going.  It has been a fun and successful year racing the Viper for myself and it was now time to give something back to the fleet. 

Phillip Toth , whom recently started working at the Ullman Newport Loft, and I set forth a plan to host a Turkey Day Tune Up on the Friday leading up to the regatta.  I focused on tuning and technique and Phil brought his expertise from his Olympic campaign to line out some boat handling and starting technique drills. 

We had a great 8 boat turnout and Nor Cal guys Drew Harper and Garett Greenhalgh came down to sail with some brand new viper owners.  This was a huge step in the right direction for the West Coast Viper fleet as having a seasoned veteran in your boat is priceless for jumpstarting the learning process.  Gladstone’s Restaurant in Long Beach graciously let me borrow their 24ft RIB so we had a styling coach boat. 

Wind was the only issue as we started out the day in the parking lot rigging the boats as a group.  We rolled out Jim Sears’ Viper ‘FNG’ and used it as a template.  We have spent a ton of time in 2011-2012 optimizing the set up and making the boat as easy and comfortable to sail (and hike out) as possible.  This was invaluable as I was constantly taking questions and using the boat to demonstrate techniques and give feedback to our tuning theories. 

The clinic was then moved to the classroom as we shifted gears and got prepared for the afternoon of sailing.  I went over a crew distribution and regatta preparation outline that I put together to give teams an idea of how we run the ‘FNG.’  From here we spoke about the physical aspects of racing a Viper and how important each position is.  Phil then took over and detailed the practice drills we would attempt.  We decided to focus on boat handling and starting. 

Unfortunately the wind never really exceeded 5-6 kts so we were somewhat limited.   A few hours of being in the boats, some practice starts and on the water instruction gave the teams some immediate insight into where the strengths and weaknesses lied.   The day concluded with a debrief that consisted of pizza and beer!  Questions were asked and answered and we did our best to motivate the teams to do one thing.. Practice!!!  The problem with sailing is that not enough people practice and do not get the extra time in the boat that it requires to move your program to the next level.  There is no substitution for experience and both Phil and myself saw huge improvements in all the boats over the course of the day.  This extra day of practice fed directly into the weekend and made the competition a little fiercer between the boats. 

The weekend regatta was sailed and the 10 boats that showed up gave a great spectacle of racing.  It also gave me a chance to drive around on the coach boat and look at techniques, rig tune and sail shape.  The best thing about sailing any boat is that there is always room to learn more.  I think you will see me motoring around the course observing a little more this year as I try to expand on everything learned from 2012 and incorporate that into 2013 as we strive to go faster and sail better.

Keith Magnussen

Ullman Sails Newport Beach

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Viper 640 West Coast Championships #1

Ullman Centerboard Regatta

&

Leukemia Cup

This past weekend Arizona Yacht Club played host to their annual Leukemia Cup regatta, also known as the Birthday Regatta.  There was an added incentive this year as Ullman Sails Newport Beach sponsored Friday’s Centerboard Challenge.  The Portsmouth, PHRF and Viper Fleets all turned up to do battle for centerboard dominance.  The Viper fleet also included the day as part of their Leukemia Cup series.  The wind was strong in the morning, but the afternoon included a 180-degree shift and light air, which made for an interesting and challenging racecourse.  Results from the Ullman Centerboard Regatta are located here!

Saturday was the official beginning of the Leukemia Cup regatta and all the scores were reset to zero, excluding the Viper 640 fleet who were now halfway through their first stop on the Viper 640 West Coast Championship Series.  Over 60 diverse boats participated in what turned out to be an amazing weekend.  Buccaneer 18, Merit 25, Montgomery 17 and the Viper 640 all had one design fleets with individual starts.

Once again I was lucky enough to be racing a Viper with Jim Sears as we started our quest towards the West Coast Championship Trophy!  Jim was not able to make it Friday as work commitments required his attention (someone has to pay for these adventures!) so I was fortunate enough (or so I thought) to skipper the boat for the day.  A good start and top-three mark rounding followed by a malfunctioning spinnaker halyard quickly sent us back to the dock for repairs.  With consistently good breeze on the lake, we missed two races fixing the halyard and were now more than 22 points behind the leaders.  This is not how we imagined the start to our 2012 season.  But back on the course and ready to go, we won the next start, rounded first and were looking good…until a 180-degree wind shift allowed the fleet to sail around us!  Despite the bad luck, we salvaged a third place and headed to the dock to regroup for Saturday.  Long-time Ullman customer and new Viper owner Ed Feo (previously owner of Andrews 45 “Locomotion”) used his experience to power into second place for the day and make a statement in his first regatta.  And local lad Tony Chapman had an outstanding day, winning the first Ullman Sails Centerboard Regatta.  Day One Results.

Jim was back on the boat Saturday and college sailor Evan (can’t remember his last name - sorry!) and I were ready for a fight-back.  And fight back we did!  Consistency was the name of the game and we settled into a groove of second and third place finishes.  Both Tony and Greg Jackson were the guys to beat as local knowledge ruled the day.   Boats were constantly changing position throughout the fleet, which was good for us as we continued to stay near the top.  Ed had some trouble shifting gears in the light air and slipped back as the point totals started mounting up.  We finished Saturday near the top of the leader board but knew it would be tough to win.

Sunday started poorly for us, but we beat the boats we needed to and started to realize we were in the mix for the overall win.  Ed Feo got his rig tuned perfectly and won the day with boat speed and great tactics.  Consistency was paying off for us and we were charging for the top.  We just needed more races!  Calculations told us we were tied with the leader (Greg Jackson), but would lose the tie breaker.  Our confidence and boat speed were up and we had a feeling we could pull it out, but sadly the wind died and the regatta was over with no more racing to be had.  The fight-back was good, but not good enough.  Congratulations to Greg and his crew who won the regatta with solid finishes, especially on Saturday. 

Thirteen total races were completed (11 for the Viper 640s) by an outstanding race committee and hosted by a friendly and fun yacht club.  The lake has changed since I was there 15 years ago, but one thing remained the same – the passion for sailing is alive and well.  Make sure you put this regatta on your calendar for next year! 

FULL RESULTS

ROAD TRIP VIDEO

Keith Magnussen 

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SPORT BOATS EARN A PODIUM SWEEP + PCC TITLE

Sport boats converged on San Diego’s South Bay last weekend for the 2011 Fall Sport Boat Regatta where Ullman Sails customers claimed the Flying Tiger 10 Pacific Coast Championships and a full sweep of the Viper 640 podium!  Congratulations to Paul and Julie McPherson and their crew on the FT 10 “Niuhi” – they took charge early on Saturday and collected three straight bullets to open the event.  “Niuhi” competed with 100% Ullman Sails onboard and sealed its PCC title Sunday in the 8-boat fleet.

Elsewhere on the racecourse, Chris Winnard and team on “Disaster Area” finished first overall with five bullets out of six total races in the Viper 640 fleet.   James Sears and his crew, Keith Magnussen and Gina Liotta, on “The FNG”  (pictured on right) finished in second overall, only three points behind "Disaster Area." Tim Carter’s “Viral” was third overall in the 8-boat fleet.  The Viper 640 podium was fully powered by Ullman Sails!

Coronado Yacht Club hosted the 2011 Fall Sport Boat Regatta, formally Sailing Anarchy’s Sailing Festival.  For complete results, click here.

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Fall Sport Boat Regatta September 24-25 2011

The Anarchy Sport Boat Regatta has been canceled but you can still participate!!  Log on to Coronado Yacht Club and sign up today!!

NOTICE OF RACE

Coronado Yacht Club

1631 Strand Way

Coronado, CA 92118

619-435-1848, coryclub@coronadoyc.org

extends an invitation to all skippers and crew to race the

FALL SPORT BOAT REGATTA

September 24-25, 2011

This one design series is sailed on the waters of South San Diego Bay, an area recognized for its superb racing conditions, flat water, no kelp. It consists of up to 7 challenging races on windward-leeward courses.

ELIGIBILITY

Entries are limited to sport boats.  Skippers must be in good standing in yacht clubs or organizations recognized by US Sailing, SCYA, or SDAYC. As of August 16, FT10’s and Vipers are coming. What about YOUR fleet?

SCHEDULE OF EVENTS

Saturday: FOUR RACES                                     Sunday: THREE RACES

1000: Skippers’ Meeting                                      1200: Start fifth race

1200: Start First Race                                          1600: Awards and Prizes, Beer and Food

1700: Beer/Soda and HOT FOOD at CYC (included)

ENTRY FEE - $55.00, less US Sailing $5 discount

REGISTRATION

Entry thru coronadoyc.org, “racing” button. Fleet inquiries please call Fred Hawes, PRO, 619-920-6661.

One discount applies. An early discount of $5 will be given when the regattanetwork.com computer identifies you as a current member of US Sailing. Persons completing the registration Saturday morning are eligible for the USSA discount. Registration closes at 10 AM Saturday morning.

Each boat shall check-in at the Registration Desk located on the front deck at CYC Saturday morning.

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Team Viral Reports after winning Long Beach Race Week and the Viper 640 Pacific Coast Championships

The 2011 Ullman Sails Long Beach Race Week was the perfect venue to kick off our EFG Pan American Pacific West Coast Championship. We had 15 Vipers on the line and some really great competition. We had several new boats, all sporting different colors from mint, yellow and purple. 

Friday was a light air day, which made it key to catch all the shifts. We had poor starts and were over early in the second one, but managed to claw our way to the top and finish first in both races. We had Kevin Taugher on the boat, and he was amazing at keeping us in phase all day. Tim Carter was at the helm and he kept focused on making the boat go fast. I was constantly playing the jib during the shifts and puffs to keep us in gear.

The party Friday night was at ABYC and the Viper fleet made sure to close it down. Naturally, some shenanigans went down.

Saturday was a typical long beach day with lots of wind. Our main focus was to keep the boat flat, play the jib, and stay in phase. Our Ullman inventory allowed us to transfer through the velocity changes with ease and found our spinnaker very effective in the planing conditions.  Our second race was by far our best race of the weekend. We were over early at the start and didn’t hear our number until a minute after and by that time we were 300 yards up and sandwiched in a snake pit. By the time we – re-started we were so far down that it almost felt impossible to get back up to the top. Luckily, we had 3 long legs and great crew work to land us a 2^nd place finish.  New Viper owner Jim Sears had a great day with three top five finishes displaying his great driving in the windy conditions.  Jim has big plans in the future and is already talking about an East Coast Tour.  Jim enjoys the family aspect of the boat and has his girlfriend crew for him.

Sunday was another light wind day and extremely patchy. We managed to stay in the breeze, catch all the shifts, and change gears quickly on the first race. Our last race consisted of tacking and gybing duels all the way to the finish. Chris Winnard and his crew had great boat speed and tactics and finished in first. Overall, we ended the regatta with 5 bullets and 2 seconds.   Please check out our video from the weekend.  A big thanks to everyone who came out and made this such a great event. We had boats from Seattle, San Francisco, Phoenix and San Diego. We hope to get the Gulf Coast and East Coast out next year!

From Rachel Ellis

Team Viral has a 100% Ullman Inventory on their Viper 640

 

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Rachel Ellis reports from the Sarcoma Cup in San Francisco

This past weekend the Viper 640 West Coast Fleet attended the Sarcoma Cup hosted by Berkeley Yacht Club on San Francisco Bay. There were 5 vipers in attendance, 3 of which were from the SoCal area, making it the largest fleet of vipers on the bay to date. Team Viral drove up on Thursday night and rolled into South Beach around 2 am. Drew Harper was kind enough to let us stay on his beautiful Santa Cruz 50, Yukon Jack, for the weekend.

Friday morning some of us got together at the local coffee shop and discussed next years schedule and our plans for the weekend. We spent the better half of the day rigging our boats, and then we went out for a sail. This was my first time on the bay and what a BLAST it was! We sailed up past Alcatraz and set the kite around Angel Island, where the wind was peaking up to 40, and then sailed back to South Beach. I had a permagrin the whole time, which made it hard to stay focused and keep my head in the boat! After sailing all day, we all went out for dinner and drinks at Tres Agaves, where we met up with Ronnie Simpson and got to hear his amazing story.

When we woke up Saturday morning, it was already blowing 22 knots at 8am. After some trailer and car shuffling, we sailed over to the Berkeley Circle. Stacey rode over with us and we were going to swap crews with Glenn, but we didn't have much time left, so Tim was "lucky" enough to have an all women crew! It was blowing 30 with gusts in the 40s, and there were some pretty good sized waves, so we white sailed the first 3 legs. After the last windward mark, and a couple of lead

changes, Glenn was the only boat in front us. The three of us looked at each other, and Tim said, "Well, do you want to win?" Duh! So we hoisted the kite, Stacey owned it, and we took Glenn by surprise and won the race. Unfortunately, right after that we shrimped the kite and ran it over. We made the decision to go in, and shortly after Drew and Jeff followed us in. Glenn and Ike stayed out for the 2nd race, and only Ike stayed out for the last one. Ike won overall, Glenn took second, and we got third. One of the best parts about this regatta was the free massage after racing. We all know Ken really enjoyed it, since we practically had to use a crowbar to pry him out of there. And he wonders why we "forgot" him at the club!

On Sunday, we did the Pursuit Race from the Berkeley Circle around Angel Island up through the slot, down to Treasure Island and back to Berkeley. After Friday and Saturday, Sunday was a very easy day, starting off around 10-12 knots building to the 20s. Our game plan was to get a clean lane and try and hug the coast of Angel Island, which we were able to do. The race was about an hour of intense hiking upwind followed by 20 minutes screaming downwind to the finish. There were a lot of lead changes upwind between Glenn, Drew and Tim, but after starting about 5-10 minutes late, Jeff and his crew pulled out in front of us all, leading us through the last third of our upwind leg. After the windward mark, we pulled out in front of Jeff, but then we got stuck to leeward of a 40 footer, and Jeff and Drew pulled out in front of us. There were a couple more lead changes after that, and we ended up finishing second out of all the vipers, right after Drew.

A huge thanks goes out to Drew and Garret for all their help and hospitality this weekend, and for showing us a great time! Also, a huge thanks to Berkeley Yacht Club and the Race Committee for putting on a great regatta and making sure we all remained safe. The Vipers look forward to sailing on the bay again sometime soon!

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High Sierra Regatta

This past weekend 7 Vipers traveled to Huntington Lake for the 57^th High Sierra Regatta. After 6-hours on the road and no AC, Team Viral arrived around 12:30 Thursday evening. The drive through the San Joaquin valley smelled strangely similar to Texas and it was just as hot there too. Tim Carter, Bryan Milne, and myself set up camp at the Dear Creek campgrounds and then walked down to the lake to see the stars. It was such a beautiful sight. I can’t remember the last time I could see the Milky Way.

Leaving Thursday evening and having all day Friday to set the boat and practice was key. We made several runs up and down the lake to get a feel for the wind, and

decided that the south side of the lake would be the most favored. Huntington Lake is 7,000 feet high, which makes it a perfect mixture of cold water and warm air during the summer. There was a lot of buzz about the viper, and after our practice Tim and Bryan took a guy out for a spin. He’s been bitten. The rest of the vipers rolled in through out the day.

The one thing about camping is there aren’t any showers. Luckily, I had brought the organic and biodegradable soap and we were 30 feet from the lake. We gave all the campers quite a show. Baby wipes also were very handy. After our team bonding, Jeff Young and Laurent Dion and their crews came over to our camp fire and had dinner and smores with us. Campfire talk is always the most interesting and fun.

Skippers meeting was at 9:30, and there was talk of a possible postponement due to lack of wind. Around 10:15, the wind turned on and we were ready to go. Our first start was great; we were definitely pushing it. Within minutes of the start our outhaul popped off and we were immediately boat lengths behind the fleet. Bryan was able to quickly get the outhaul on and Tim got the boat going again. We had a lot of catching up to do. We played the shifts off the points and shifted gears through the puffs. We were the first to the windward mark, and ahead of all the traffic. Getting ahead of all the traffic and staying in phase kept us in front for the rest of the race. The second start was around 1:30. We had another great start – middle/pin so we could get to the left side quickly. The Skippers meeting was at 9:30, and there was talk of a possible postponement due to lack of wind. Around 10:15, the wind turned on and we were ready to go. Our first start was great; we were definitely pushing it. Within minutes of the start our outhaul popped off and we were immediately boat lengths behind the fleet. Bryan was able to quickly get the outhaul on and Tim got the boat going again. We had a lot of catching up to do. We played the shifts off the points and shifted gears through the puffs. We were the first to the windward mark, and ahead of all the traffic. Getting ahead of all the traffic and staying in phase kept us in front for the rest of the race. The second start was around 1:30. We had another great start – middle/pin so we could get to the left side quickly. The

After racing, most of the boats came over for dinner, and a few drinks later we stumbled down to the lodge for the party and band. Not only did we find a great 80s cover band, but we also found a few laughs from Jeff’s crew, Ken. My jaw hurt the next day from laughing so hard. Just ask him about white picket fences.

Sunday morning we woke up and packed everything up. It was sad to see such a great weekend end. We had a great start to the last race of the weekend and played the shifts really well until the top of the course. After we passed the last point, the wind was really fluky. We went from first to fourth very quickly. After rounding the mark, we passed one boat and began to catch up to Jeff and Bill Chase. Jeff’s extensive local knowledge and great sailing kept him in front while we were battling with Bill. There were at least 6 lead changes between the three boats, but after the last gybe mark and a close call with Jeff and an Olson, we were out in front and held onto it for our third win. Team Viral placed first with three bullets, Bill Chase from the Bay Area came in second, and Jeff Young from San Diego came in third.

It was really great to do some lake sailing again, and the High Sierra Regatta is one of the top regattas that I have been to since I moved to Cali. A huge thanks goes out to Fresno Yacht Club and all the volunteers for making this a great regatta. The Viper fleet looks forward to sailing here again next year!

Rachel Ellis

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