Viper 640 International Regatta at the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club - Day 3
by David Pitman 20 Nov 2016 16:15 GMT
16-19 November 2016
Bright & Stormy on Bermuda's Great Sound
He may have only won one of today's four races, but his consistent top-5 finishes allowed Zeke Horowitz (Annapolis, MD), sailing with Brendan Healey (Greenwich, CT) and Ian Coleman (Annapolis, MD), to maintain a commanding lead after races three to six were completed today on Bermuda's Great Sound.
Their yellow spinnaker, now a familiar fixture at the front off the fleet, let the rest of the sailors know that this trio was out to win both the Aspen Viper 640 International Championship sponsored by EFG as well as the Viper 640 North Americans being sailed for at the same time. "Sure, it's great to be at the top of the results," said Horowitz, "but it's equally as great to be here sailing on these beautiful Bermudian waters among the 40 other Viper 640s that are racing."
Over forty Viper 640s have been racing including local boats, boats from the U.S., Canada, Great Britain, and Australia. While not technically a World Championship, the racing is as high-level as one could expect at such an international event.
Standing in second place with 24 points is Justin Scott (Darien, CT) sailing with Rob Crane (Darien, CT) and Trevor Burd (Marblehead. MA) recording second and first place finishes in the first two of today's four races. Geoff Fargo, Jeff Grange, and Spencer Steffen, all hailing from Santa Barbara, CA, stand in third place at 32 points having finished second in the final race of the day.
Throughout the fleet, the competitive nature of the sailors was evident as boats' scorelines often report top ten and "deeper" finishes.
Today's racing was delayed for an hour as the wind refused to settle into a consistent direction. At about noon, International Race Officer and PRO Hank Stuart got off the first race of the day and the third race of the series. Compared to the past two days, today's sailing was dry with the exception of one major 20+ knot rain squall that stormed through race three. Temperatures in the 70 degree (21C) range gave everyone their fill of spectacular racing.
The final day of racing is set for tomorrow and more excellent conditions are forecasted. Follow all racing in real time and see regatta photos on Facebook with daily recaps at www.viper640.corg.