Viper Sarasota Winter Circuit in sunny Florida - The wrap

by Ed Padin on 10 Feb 2015 Viper 640 Sarasota Winter Circuit - Amidst snowstorms and freezing rain in the northeast U.S., 15 Viper 640 sport boat teams made the trip south to sail in sunny conditions with green water. This was the final installment of the three-part Viper 640 Sarasota (FL) Winter Circuit that included weekend regattas in December and January.

The Race Committee at Sarasota Sailing Squadron squeezed in nine races in conditions that never reached more than 10 knots, with large shifts, managing the seemingly impossible as fleets at other one design regattas in Tampa and St. Petersburg a few miles north struggled to get in three races in similar conditions.

The hybrid Blackout Panda team of Peter Beardsley, Rachel Beardsley, and Danny Pletsch improved on their January performance, winning six races and scoring no worse than a second to win the event by 15 points over the Amthor-Eberwine team from Hampton YC. Blackout Panda Larchmont Yacht Club stablemates Dragon Fire finished strong with a 3-3 to leapfrog Peter Denton’s Newport team by a point for third place.

The event also marked the conclusion of the Sarasota Winter Circuit, with an outstanding 28 races completed over three events in December, January and February. The circuit scored each race individually, with teams dropping their worst 30%. Blackout Panda discarded all but one of their DNCs from December to edge the Amthor-Eberwine team by five points for the circuit title, with Peter Denton’s Toriffic team finishing third, just ahead of event chair Travis Yates and his Sidewinder team, and Executive Committee member Steve Chapman from Ottawa, Ontario in fifth. The teams now prepare for two Miami March events, with the EFG Winter Cup March 1-2, and the EFG Viper 640 Pan-American Championship at Bacardi Miami Sailing Week sponsored by EFG International March 5-7 with a record 37 teams registered.

Regatta results last updated: Sunday, February 08, 2015 2:28:10 PM CDT
Information is provisional and subject to modification.

 

Sail	Boat	Skipper	Yacht Club			Total	Pos
222	Blackout Panda	Peter Beardsley	Larchmont YC			43	1
USA 227	David ,Barb & Henry	Henry Amthor	Hampton YC			48	2
158	Torr-ific	Peter Denton	New York Yacht Club			65	3
91	Sidewinder	Travis Yates	Sarasota Sailing Squadron			83	4
211	Oshunmare/Jackpot	Steve Chapman	Britannia Yacht Club			118	5
119	Tucker McElroy	Dave Banyard	Sarasota Sailing Squadron			120	6
203	Peer Pressure	David Hillmyer	Sarasota Sailing Squadron			128	7
USA179	Dragon Fire 2	Byron LaMotte	Storm Trysail Club			129	8
195	USA 195	Jonathan Nye	Indian Harbor Yacht Club			147	9
155	Arethusa	Philip Lotz	NYYC			148	10
100	Myasasaur	Craig and Deborah Wilusz	BBSC / FWYC			156	11
220		Steve Taylor	Hampton YC			158	12
221	Choppy Seas	Thomas Loutrel	Charleston Yacht Club			187	13
USA202	Coming In Hot	Michelle Lee	Sarasota Sailing Squadron			193	14
231	fale	William Becker	Maxinkuckee Yacht Club			210	15
105	GOUX GET MAMA	Jeffery Lee Cliff Whatmore	SYC			226	16
196	Eye of the Tiger	Don Faircloth	Mobile Yacht Club			233	17
201		Andrew Kiteley	PHYC			237	18
99	Medusa 1	Stephen Michael John Faiella	Rudder Club of Jacksonville			242	19
USA X	Rondar 1	Rondar Factory	Storm Trysail Club			254T	20
GBR 254	Mambo Kings	Justin Scott	RDDA			254T	20
BER 160	Overproof	Butch Agnew	Royal Hamilton Amateur Dingy Club			254T	20

Notes
- Scoring System is RRS Low Point 2013-2016
- Finishes in [brackets] denote throwouts