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The Jerwood/de Vries family combination is well known at Australian Sailing headquarters, where Nia Jerwood and Monique de Vries are Australian representatives in the 470 class. They jumped back to 420’s in January to claim the World Women’s title in that class. This time it is their parents in the spotlight. Nick Jerwood, Nia’s father and a former world champion in the Flying Fifteen class, teamed up with her brother Matt and Monique’s father Brian to win the Schweppes Viper 640 World Championship 2018, conducted by Western Australia’s South of Perth Yacht Club on the Swan River.

Justin Scott repeated his success at last year’s Worlds by finishing second with two third placings in the last two races. The American stated at the start of the campaign that he came to Perth expecting a top five finish, so he would have been delighted with his performance. Sailing with young local guns Conor Nicholas and Luke Elliot, the combination improved steadily throughout the regatta, with no worse than a third place in any of the final six races.

Match racer Keith Swinton, originally from Perth but resident these days in the USA, held down second place until the final day, bombing out with an early start in the last race of the series and allowing Scott to relegate him to third.

Conditions were difficult for both competitors and officials today. The forecast strong winds did not materialize and instead winds shifted between 140 and 190 degrees for some time this morning before finally settling enough to allow racing to proceed after a long delay. Wind strength never reached ten knots.

It was a brave skipper who dared to stray out to the corners of the course in either of today’s races and the rewards went to those who worked the shifts down the middle.

The consensus from competitors was a big endorsement for the championship. Most praised the organization and the way racing was run, the weather offered a little for everyone – from light breezes through to a testing 28 knot gear breaker, this regatta had it all.

Report & pic by Bernie Kaaks

Report & Photo by: Bernie Kaaks

Britain’s Lawrence Crispin heads the points table after four races in the Schweppes Viper Worlds 2018, being sailed on Perth’s Swan River in Western Australia.

As forecast, the weather turned brutal. The first race, started in a southerly of about 12 knots, was abandoned before the leaders reached the half way mark of the first leg after a thirty degree windshift made it possible to sail to the windward buoy without tacking. A second attempt was made after the course and start line were adjusted, but resulted in a general recall with most of the fleet on the course before the start signal. The third attempt was still aggressive, but the fleet was under way with two skippers, Chris O’Keefe and John Park, disqualified under the “U” flag. O’Keefe had a horror day, falling foul again in race three and retiring from race four.

Aggressive starts characterised the day. Race two began with no problems but in race three there were no less than five “U” flag disqualifications, including many of the pre-regatta favourites, Keith Swinton, Justin Scott, Nick Jerwood and Denis Jones. The experience will no doubt put them under pressure from here on since none can afford a second disqualification in the series.

Justin Scott was a dominant force in the light breezes of the Practice Regatta but found the going a lot tougher in today’s conditions, with a best placing of fifth, leaving him languishing in tenth spot at this stage, but the talented American, with Australian crew Conor Nicholas and Luke Elliot will be keen to improve on that. He finished second in the last Viper Worlds.

“We’re just happy to be here,” Scott said today. “But really I’m aiming for a spot in the top five. We’ve heard about the big breezes they’re expecting today and it’s a whole different game than the practice races, that’s for sure.”

Australia is infamous for its dangerous animals. It has sharks, crocodiles, spiders, and more deadly snakes than any other country worldwide. As if this isn’t enough, next week there will be more Vipers sliding into Perth from around the world for the Viper 640 World Championship.

The event will be sailed on the Swan River, hosted by South of Perth Yacht Club. Action at the Viper 640 World Championship starts on Saturday 17th February and Sunday 18th February, with two morning, short course regattas.

The Worlds start on Monday 19th February, with three to four races scheduled each day. This is the second World Championship for the Class and the first major championship outside of North America.

A fleet of 26 boats from Australia, Canada, England, South Africa and the USA will contest the series. Australia has the largest contingent with sailors, coming from as far as Queensland and New South Wales. Western Australia will field a strong team, with boats from Perth and Albany.

The local WA contingent will be led by recent WA State champion, Graeme Monkhouse and will be strengthened by the inclusion of former Flying Fifteen World Champion, Nic Jerwood. Nic will make a formidable team with his son, match racer, Matt Jerwood, and Brian De Vries. Talented sailor and Olympic coach, Dennis Jones has chartered a boat and can be relied upon to add class to the fleet.

Internationally, the fleet is strongest in North America, and USA Class Governor Justin Scott and Canadian Champion, Steve Chapman will make the long journey to Australia, and expect to finish in the placings.

Alex Schon will be the first South African to join the Viper ranks at a world championship and Lawrence Crispen, EFG Winter Cup and Bacardi Miami Sailing Week regatta winner, will represent England.

A highlight of the social calendar will be the cocktail party held at the Fremantle Maritime Museum. Sailors and guests will watch the sun set over Fremantle Harbour, sipping cocktails under the bow of famous 12m yacht, Australia II, which is suspended, fully rigged, in the iconic museum.

The Closing ceremony and Awards at SoPYC will be held on Friday 23rd February, where the Viper640 World Championship Perpetual Trophy will be awarded to the overall winner.

Visitors are welcome to inspect the boats at SoPYC and view the racing from several vantage points overlooking the course.

After three days of close, competitive racing, Charleston, SC, sailors Tom Loutrel, John Bowden and Karl Schutte held a fragile eight point lead in the fifty-four boat fleet having finished in the top four for all except one of the preceding nine races. The top four boats at that point were separated by only 13 points in a fleet that kept turning itself inside out. Loutrel held the lead throughout the first three days and credited his success to having stayed in the pressure and in phase as the winds had osculated unpredictably.

Going into Saturday’s final two races, only 13 points separated the top four teams: Loutrel; Marcus Eagan in second, sailing for Mississippi’s Bay Waveland Yacht Club with his brother Andrew and Jackson Benvenutti; Brad Boston from Sarnia, ON, sailing with Lee Shuckerow and Dave Shriner; and last year’s Viper Worlds and NAs Champ Zeke Horowitz from Annapolis, MD, sailing with Ian Coleman and Luke Lawrence. It was anyone’s Championship to win.

Loutrel’s winning ways began to fade as he finished ninth in the penultimate race. Horowitz won that race with Boston third and Eagan fourth narrowing the gap between the top four to ten points. With the winds shifting to the southwest and increasing to the high teens, a general recall was signaled for the first attempt to start the final race. Loutrel was over early with the Z Flag flying earning him a penalty that would cost him the Championship. Horowitz had also won the final race, but he was still one point over Loutrel keeping Zeke and team off this year’s podium. Boston scored another third moving him ahead of Loutrel but it was Eagan’s fourth place finish that earned him the Championship in the final race.

Eagan noted, “What a great regatta and we’re thrilled to have won. I really like sailing the Viper 640. It has great tuning capabilities and is physical enough to know you’re really sailing. And the competition in this Championship was excellent with great event management, stellar conditions, and wonderful people to compete against. I look forward to doing more Viper racing.”

For video highlights of the championship by Petey Crawford of Penalty Box Productions visit the event’s Facebook page

Photos Viper 640 Class Association