Designed by Kiwi Brian Bennett, of Kiwi Performance Design Associates, the Viper is aimed at a crew of three or four and intended to be, according to the brochure, "the ultimate tactical one-design." By virtue of its size, the Viper will be more stable than its smaller sisters. The cockpit is designed for comfortable hiking with a 5-0-5 styled rolled deck edge.

I call this boat a dinghy, but there is in fact 185 pounds of ballast in the keel bulb in some of the drawings and specs. Other drawings show a straight daggerboard sans bulb. Rudder and daggerboard are carbon fiber.

The hull form shows lots of flare to the topsides aft and flatfish sections with about eight degrees of deadrise throughout the bottom. The bow is very fine. Once again you can detect a flat section fore and aft in the hull rocker, tight around the keel fin. Perhaps this is a function of the "area rule" to take the bump out of the curve of areas. This rig also uses a mast ram to control mast bend. Mast and boom are aluminum and the retractable pole is carbon fiber. There is 380 square feet in that asymmetrical chute.