With Tropical Depression Barry looming in the Gulf of Mexico, OSYC was in line to receive it’s first good rainfall in several months. But that didn’t deter the Viper Fleet from having a fantastic regatta. What had been planned as our annual Sinclair Open quickly turned into the First Annual Viper 640 Southeastern Championship with four Vipers on the line including locals Bill Shaw and Jay Harrell along with Alex and Tyler from Columbia South Carolina and Justin Scott from Marblehead Mass. Saturday’s races started out cool and rainy with a spotty southeast wind, giving us one race in the light and variable conditions. A 90 degree wind shift then sent RC Ken and Jennifer Griffin scrambling to reset the course to the new NE wind and we managed one more race in the increasing wind before the increasing rain got the best of us and we headed in to fire up the grill. The rain continued all night, but finally stopped early Sunday morning, leaving us heading out under clear skies and a NW wind blowing little whitecaps down the lake. NOAA radio said 15 mph gusting to 20. A busted pintle left us one boat short, so Justin gave his to the younger crew and spent the day hopping from boat to boat doing a bit of on-the-water coaching and tuning. We decided to run single-lap races around the mid-leg WL course so that we could have more starts – which gave everyone a chance for some much needed practice. With enough wind to fill the spinnakers we managed to hit top speeds in the 12-15 mph range and complete three more races giving us a wonderful five race regatta. Despite the splendid conditions, we had to cut the day a little short so that the out-of-town folks could hit the road early. And in the end, everyone left with big smiles and a bit more knowledge about our Vipers. * [Sinclair Open Final Results ->/racing/2007results/2007-06-02-SinclairOpen.htm] {{Photo Album}}

2007 OSYC Viper Open