New Orleans (March 24, 2023) – The Allstate Sugar Bowl Viper World Championship will feature some of the best sailors in North America when it is contested on Lake Pontchartrain next week (March 27-31). The 33 teams will represent 14 states as well as Canada and Jamaica as they compete for the top prize in one of the most competitive sailboat classes in the world.
 
The Viper 640 is a two-to-four-person, high-performance sport boat about 21 feet long. The 640 is strict one-design with no changes permitted to the boat as supplied by the class approved builder. The only option is sails, supplied by class approved sailmakers, and strictly controlled through class rules.
 
"Sailing has been a proud piece of the Sugar Bowl tradition from the beginning, getting its start even before the first Sugar Bowl Football Classic," said Committee President Richard Briede.  "We're so pleased and excited to expand on that tradition by sponsoring this year's Viper World Championships on Lake Pontchartrain."
 
While the event features top sailors from throughout the country, New Orleans sailors are expected to figure prominently in the competition.
 
Leading local competitors include the team of Ricky Welch, 22, and Harrison Menszer, 19, who have sailed together since they were eight years old, starting in SYC's Optimist youth program.  The two became prodigies, winning the Gulf Yachting Association (GYA) 420 Championship in 2015 when they were 14 and 12 respectively, still eligible to sail single-handed in Optimists.
 
Most recently, they won the Viper Winter Series out of Southern Yacht Club sailed in four separate events from December, 2022 through early March, 2023 as a tune-up for the World Championships next week.
 
"We have been training for the Viper 640 World Championship since August of last year," said Welch. "After our overall victory of the Viper 640 Winter Series, we're feeling confident going into the world championship. Our goal is to be on the podium and the top Corinthian (amateur) team at the Viper 640 World Championship. As long as we don't overthink our game plan for each race, I believe we'll have a successful regatta," he added.
 
Welch, a native of Long Beach, will skipper their boat. He has won the 2018 Laser Radial Class Nationals against 40 boats, placed third in the 2018 US Youth Championships and won the 2022 RS Aero North Americans. 
 
Last year, the pair teamed to win the GYA Weatherly Regatta sailed in the Viper. The Weatherly is one of the 12 GYA Capdevielle Series regattas sailed throughout the year to determine the overall annual winner after the year-ending Allstate Sugar Bowl Regatta.
 
Other local competitors who are strong candidates for a high finish include:

• Jackson Benvenutti, a two-time collegiate All-American sailor who was part of the team that won the 2019 Viper 640 Worlds.  He won the 2022 Viper 640 North Americans in Gulfport and two weeks later won the 2022 US Sailing Adult Championship. He sailed in only the last event of the Viper Winter Series but won decisively.
• Zac Fanberg, who finished second in the Viper Winter Series that concluded this month. He is a collegiate All-American at College of Charleston and a three-time adult national champion. Zak's team includes his wife Sarah, who was a two-time All-American at College of Charleston, and Eugene Schmitt, a two-time All-American at the U.S. Naval Academy. They placed fifth in the Viper North Americans last year.
• Nick Lovell, who at 18 will be the youngest sailor in the regatta. He comes from a regal sailing lineage. His crew will include his mom Katy, who is a national-level match racer and formerly campaigned for the Olympics. Nick's father Johnny was a four-time Olympic sailor who won the silver medal in the 2004 Athens games. Nick also played football in high school, as a center for quarterback Arch Manning, grandson of Archie Manning.

While the New Orleans-based competitors may have local knowledge of Lake Pontchartrain, they will be challenged by some of the best Viper sailors in the U.S. and the world, including:

• Jimmy Praley, Annapolis, MD, the third-place finisher in the Viper Winter Series
• Zane Yoder, Fairhope AL
• Marina Maffessanti, Ocho Rios, Jamaica
• Mark Zagol, Pawcatuck, CT, who took second in the 2022 Viper North American Championship.
• Marek Zaleski, Norwalk, CT, who finished fourth in the 2022 Viper North American Championship.
• Karl and Paul Kleinschrodt, Mobile, AL
• Peter Beardsley, Shelter Island, NY

 
About Allstate Sugar Bowl
The Allstate Sugar Bowl has established itself as one of the premier college football bowl games, having hosted 28 national champions, 102 Hall of Fame players, 52 Hall of Fame coaches and 21 Heisman Trophy winners in its 89-year history. In addition to football, the Sugar Bowl Committee annually invests over $1 million into the community through the hosting and sponsorship of sporting events, awards, scholarships and clinics. Through these efforts, the organization supports and honors thousands of student-athletes each year, while injecting nearly $2.4 billion into the local economy in the last decade. The Sugar Bowl has sponsored sailing regattas since before the first Sugar Bowl football game. The first Sugar Bowl Regatta was held in 1934.
 
About Southern Yacht Club
Southern Yacht Club, founded in 1849, is the second oldest yacht club in the United States. It has established a record of success on the water second to none. Its members have won four Olympic sailing medals, three America's Cups and scores of regional, national and international sailing championships. The club moved into its present clubhouse in 2009 after its third building was destroyed in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. More information is at www.southernyacthclub.org.
 
About the Viper 640
The Viper 640 combines the stiffness of a keel boat with the acceleration and planing abilities of a dinghy, designed by Brian Bennett. When Rondar Raceboats took over construction, Rondar committed to new molds and applied their high-performance dinghy building experience and skills to a rejuvenated Viper 640. The result is an immensely strong boat that is low weight, affordable, and great fun to sail.
 
The Viper 640 is a strict one-design class making it ideal for national and international racing, and, as of 2017, the Viper 640 is a recognized World Sailing international class with fleets in North America, Australia, Europe, and now in southern Africa. https://www.viper640.org