Brian lives in New Zealand, but he plans to spend some time in the US over the coming years representing Fusion Catamarans. The excitement over the rennaissance of the Viper has encouraged him to turn a summer vacation/business trip into an extended visit of several months. In addition to laying some ground work for Fusion and spending time with family and friends (his wife, Rachel, is American), Brian is making plans to visit the new Viper fleets, do some clinics, attend demos and meet with Viper owners.

Brian's enthusiasm and support of the Viper class is unique. I don't think you will see the designers of the other recent 20' sportsboats touring their US fleets any time soon. Brian wants to go sailing with as many existing and prospective Viper owners as he possibly can.  

Please let me know if you would like to take advantage of this opportunity by asking Brian to visit your fleet/region.

Brian does a wonderful job at Viper clinics and coaching sessions. He is an outstanding yachtsman and provides very insightful input in an easy -to-understand and enjoyable way. Also, he knows more about the design, build and construction of Vipers than anyone on the planet. He can help with advice about retrofits, repairs and rigging solutions and tuning. He is a boat builder, proffessional yachtsman, as well as designer and he will roll up his sleeves and start mixing epoxy as soon as give advice. I can also guarantee that his enthusiasm for the Viper is infectious.

By way of background, Brian was a World champion in the Contender class by the time he was twenty. His resume includes an America's Cup campaign as trimmer and sailmaker, a Whitbread Round the World Race as a helm, and campaigns that range from his own home built OK Dinghy to the maxi Condor. He has been building boats for thirty five years. Performance Boats where he designed and built the Viper was based in Rhode Island from 1990 to 1999. Although he is now a designer and project manager and supposed to have "retired" from hands -on boat building, the itch has never gone away and some very fast Flying Fifteens have been coming out of a shed on his farm in New Zealand. Last year, his son Hayden and Brian won the New Zealand FFifteen national championships.  

Brian and Rachel plan to arrive in San Fransisco on 14th June. Brian will stay in SF/Oakland area from 14th to 15th. From 17th to 21st June he will visit the Long Island Sound Viper fleet and do some demos and clinics in Rhode Island.  The next stage will probably be to head to the South East and then be back in New England in July ahead of the North Americans where we are planning a 2 day " get up to speed" clinic. 

 Please let me know if you have any ideas or suggestions of how we can make use of Brian's time.