A grown-up dinghy

Viper 640

Roger McMillan goes racing on the Viper One-Design sports boat which is ideal for dinghy sailors who have grown older.

There are at least three groups of people who will look closely at the Viper 640 sports boat. Dinghy sailors who are getting too old to hike continually but still want to go fast. Parents who want to take two or three of their kids racing on a competitive boat. And other sports boat owners who have seen this little flier take on and beat much bigger rivals.

My introduction to the Viper came at Geographe Bay Race Week in Western Australia. The Viper’s Perth importer, Rod Beurteaux, was campaigning Don’t Forget Alice and Tim Reger was skippering Fizz against 10 other sports boats, including four Melges 24s, four Elliotts, two Thompsons and a Fremantle 8.

At the end of the regatta, Fizz had finished second, just one point behind Kym Nisbet’s Melges 24 Bullitt, and Rod’s boat was fourth. Alice may have fared even better had Rod not flown out two days early for a business trip to Japan, leaving the editor of this publication to fill in for him.

On handicap, the Vipers won five races and the Melges 24s won the other five. More significantly, in race six Alice finished second across the line and ahead of all the Melges. When you consider she’s more than 20% shorter, that shouldn’t happen. The Melges 24s are faster upwind because of their longer waterline, but downwind the Viper planes a lot earlier than the heavier Melges.

However, Rod says the future for the boat is as a one-design class in it’s own right. “The sport boat scene is a good launching pad but like any rating-based fleet the goal posts are consistently moving and this generally causes the cost of competing to rise and you never know if the results are based on exceptional sailing skill or the latest design technology,” he says.

Rod is an excellent sailor, as evidenced by a second place to Chris Dickson at the 1979 Youth Worlds, third place at the 2003 Flying 15 Worlds and five National titles in Sharpies, 470 and Flying Ants. However, it was a desire to get his teenage daughters into sailing that first convinced him to look at a sports boat. “I wanted a boat that I could take my daughters out in, but being a competitive sailor I also wanted something that was fast.”

The Viper can be crewed by two, three or four people, making it a good family boat. It’s very easy to sail, but like all good boats it requires work to sail it really well.
If you wanted to you could spend the whole race hiked out, but it’s not essential. The large side tanks are comfortable to hike from, and you can position the hiking straps for maximum weight over the side, or for minimum discomfort.

We sailed four-up but there was still plenty of room in the cockpit and for a keelboat sailor like myself, the ease of sail handling was very evident. When the wind got up above 15 knots, the speed downwind was exhilarating, as the photographs show. With an asymmetrical spinnaker flown from a prodder the Viper won’t go straight downwind, but her extreme speed means she tracks down bigger boats flying symmetricals in most conditions.

The only problem we experienced was the occasional snagging of the extendible prodder when launching and retrieving the kite from the bow launcher, but I’m told this can be easily rectified with half a tennis ball – or by removing the ham-fisted keelboat sailor from the crew!

Designed by Kiwi Brian Bennett, the Viper has a long, narrow bow with a very fine entry, which gives good upwind speed. There is also a pronounced flare in the mid-section which gives the downwind stability. The self-bailing open transom, the 123kg bulb keel and the closed-cell foam core hull all contribute to stability
and safety.

The Viper is marketed by Bennett’s company, Sportboat Planet, and is built by Southern Performance Composites in Nelson, NZ. Boats are shipped either roll-on roll-off from NZ or fleet orders (four boats) are shipped via 40’ HC container.

With 23.41m2 of main/jib and 39.48m2 of spinnaker, the sailplan is powerful but because of the stability
of the boat, is easily controlled. The carbon mast is a split assembly which is sleeved just above the spreaders to make towing or container freighting simple. The boat comes complete with Hyde sails and an aluminium road trailer. There is also a range of accessories such as boat covers, rudder covers, compasses and launching dollies. At less than 500kg all-up, the Viper can be towed by
a four-cylinder car.

With sports boats fleets growing in most cities and at major regatta weeks, the exciting little Viper is likely to provide an excellent option for aging dinghy sailors who are not yet ready to wield winch handles on a big keeler. But the modern design and high performance characteristics will also attract plenty of young sailors looking for fun, competitive sports boat sailing. Even if they have to crew for their mum or dad.

Specifications

Length Overall 6.40 m (21’ 1”)

Length Waterline 5.79m (19’ 1”)

Beam 2.44m (8’ 2”)

Displacement 340 kilo (749lbs)

Ballast Lifting Bulb Keel. 123 kilo (271lbs)

Draft 1.23m (4’ 6”) with keel down. 305mm (1’ 10’) with keel up.

Keel is bolted down while sailing.

Sail Area Main/Jib 23.41m2 (252 sq ft)

Spinnaker 39.48m2 (425 sq ft)

Mast Carbon

Landed cost $39,995, incl trailer and sails.

Handicap PHRF 111 US Sailing Portsmouth Yardstick 70.4

Designer Brian Bennett, Sportboat Planet

Perth Agent Rod Beurteaux rod@beurteaux.com.au

Builder www.SportboatPlanet.com