Bart wrote:
http://www.sailinganarchy.com/fringe...iper%20640.htm

Striking Back!

Designed in 1996 by Kiwi sailor Brian Bennett, the
Viper 640 was voted the following year as "Boat of
the Year, Overall Winner" by a leading US sailing
magazine,

Yep, it's an awesome boat. Can't believe you haven't seen one before.
They are really fast and also not twitchy beyond the skills of an
above-average sailor. The only reason we bought a Johnson-18 instead
of the Viper is that the Viper is not beachable and many of the places
we sailed, you had to go off a beach or very shallow in-shore dock. To
lift the keel, you have to unrig the mainsail & boom, attach the boom
vang to the main halyard, and hoist it up into place. I believe the
new boats have a hoisting frame that latches in place but the boom
still has to be unrigged. No shoal water capability.

We've sailed in company with this class a few times, they are speedy
in light air and handle the heavy stuff well too. One time, as the
wind clocked to 30+, all the other classes were either breaking boats
or heading for dock in panic. Even small keelboats were crashing &
burning, like the J-24s. The "traditional" boats that you'd think
could handle heavy air, like the Flying Scots, Lightnings, &
Daysailers, all went in. The Johnson 18s and the Vipers all kept going
trhu all 3 races, and afterwards talked about how much fun it was.

Fresh Breezes- Doug King