Long Beach, California: Day three of the Goslings Viper 640 World Championship, hosted by Alamitos Bay Yacht Club, is what the sailors called “moving day,” as the Catalina High was predicted to suck the air out of the race course mid-afternoon and after two good races in 8-10 knots, the High’s effect was felt, and the third race was finished in very light conditions.
With two days and seven races under their belts, the sailors were going to either move up or down in the standings. For Marcus and Andrew Eagan and Jackson Benvenutti, along with Geoff Ewenson, Ryan Cox, and Jon Ziskind, it was moving up.
After two days in the lead, local sailors Jay Golison, Steve Flam and Eric Doyle dropped to fourth after retiring from Race 9, leaving them with 3-RET-6-8 results.
Eagan’s Cajun Underwriting moved from second to first winning all four races. Ewenson’s Evil Hiss moved up into the second with 2-3-2-4 results, while the Australian team, skippered by defending world champion, Nick Jerwood, has moved into third place.
When asked what magic they pulled out of their hats today, Jackson Benvenutti noted, “We sail in conditions like this all the time on Lake Pontchartrain – light air and choppy. We focused on getting a good lane off the start so we could put our bow down and go, while remaining as still as possible in the light air.”
It should also be noted that Goslings has been a major driver in the off-the-water success of this event. Rinear Coulter, Goslings Brand Events Director, has been on-site every night and out on the water watching, too.
Rinear’s take on the Worlds is: “This Worlds has been great for Goslings. We’ve been sampling a lot of our rum products—including our Old Rum this afternoon—and I believe we have made Goslings ambassadors out or all Viper sailors.
“The relationship between the company and the Viper class continues to grow and I look forward to being part of future Viper events.”
The final day of racing is tomorrow, Saturday, August 24 local time. With 11 races sailed, organisers plan for thee tomorrow.
Top three overall:
1 USA Cajun Underwriting Bay Waveland Marcus Eagan /Andrew Eagan/ Jackson Benvenutti 5, 1, (7), 7, 3, 4, 7, 1, 1, 1, 1, 38 = 31
2 USA Evil Hiss Geoffrey Ewenson Ryan Cox Jon Ziskind 11, 6, (20), 4, 9, 1, 3, 2, 3, 2, 4, 65 = 45
3 AUS Steal De Breeze Nick Jerwood/ Matthew Jerwood/ Brian DeVries 2, 10, 8, 3, 6, 9, 2, (18), 8, 5, 3 = 74
Full results: https://www.viper640.org/
Lisa Ratcliff
