While it’s better known for its mile-long white sand beaches and crazy nightlife, Miami is one of the best places to run a regatta in the winter months. Bacardi Miami Sailing Week happened March 6-12 and brought together J/70s, Stars, A-Cats, Viper 640s, and VX Ones together for a week of racing. The Stars raced Monday through Thursday, with one race scheduled daily, while everyone else was scheduled to race Thursday through Saturday.
Unfortunately, the wind gods on Thursday proved to be too much for race committee to get the Stars, A-Cats, Vipers, and VX Ones out on the line. But the J/70s went out and pulled off three races in 18-20 knots of breeze.
“That was totally lame,” says Tyler Moore, Hampton, VA, sailor who was down in Miami racing his Viper 640 Big Rooster with his wife Jane. “We went out and practiced anyway.”
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The Moores and the Fallons, sailing to a second place finish overall. Photo by Dan Tucker[/caption]
The Moores have been sailing in the Viper 640 class since 2011, and Tyler also actively campaigns his International 505. For Miami, their regular Viper crew, Barry Allardice, was unavailable. So the Moores contacted another couple, good friends Tim and Karen Fallon, who came down from New England to sail.
“With that boat, you want between 500 and 600 pounds, roughly,” he says. “When it’s breezy, it really helps to have four. We looked at it and said, ‘well, with four, we won’t be too heavy, and it will be a lot more fun.’”
Moore certainly did have fun. In eight races, he posted four bullets. “We really got together as a team,” he says, of his crew. “The girls were looking up the course and finding the wind, watching shifts. Tim was watching other boats. From there, I could just concentrate on making the boat go fast. That makes it easy, and a lot of fun, to sail.”
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There's nothing like relaxing at a great bar after a long sail. Palm trees help.[/caption]
Elsewhere on the race course, other Chesapeake couples were also having a great time on the water. Henry and Barb Amthor sailed with David Eberwine on David, Barb, and Henry, and Mary and Geoff Ewenson sailed with Paul Abdulla on Terminally Pretty (with a very cool spinnaker). And in the J/70 division, Anne and Thomas Bowen raced on Reach Around to eighth place.
Despite the great success he had on the Viper, Moore will next be seen in his “main boat,” the 505, when he competes in the Euro Cup with Andrew Buttner as crew. “The Viper is my family cruising boat,” says Moore, who has three children between the ages of five and nine. He and Jane take the kids out for beer can races when they aren’t at soccer games.
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Terminally Pretty, the Viper 640 owned by Geoff and Mary Ewenson, bringing SpinSheet off the Bay. Photo by Tim Healy[/caption]
When it comes to spending time together as a family, we think the Moores really have fun dialed in.
Chesapeake Bay-Biased Results (for the full results, click here)
Viper 640 (29 boats)
2. Tyler Moore, Big Rooster
13. Mary Ewenson, Terminally Pretty
15. Dave Eberwine, Dave, Barb, and Henry
21. Steve Taylor, 220
Star (70 boats)
42. Bert Collins, Grinch
A Cat (15 boats)
3. Tracy Oliver, Lunatic Fringe
8. Palmer Galt Oliver, A Clockwork Orange
12 Bob Orr, Made in America
J/70
6. Allan Terhune, Jr., Dazzler
8. Thomas Bowen, Reach Around
19. Gannon Troutman, Pied Piper
29. Peter Firey, Phoenix
