Everyone starts in the back of the fleet. When starting out you should sail as many boats and against/ with as many sailors as you can. I grew up sailing optis and I watched a lot of kids become great opti sailors then move into other boats like lasers and be in the back of the fleet and get discouraged and quit. You should get the kids who are genuinely interested in sailing on as many boats and in as many fleets as possible. The viper is a pretty nice platform to learn spinnakers since it is asym.

Why not reach out to NOYC sailors and see if you can schedule a weekend clinic or guest coaches during the week for the vipers. Get the kids introduced to some of the more experienced sailors in the club and move them out of the same ole same ole boat they are always sailing.

Keeping in one type of boat is not really helping kids understand general sailing and improve on what they learned.

Instead of having a high school 420 regatta why not make it a high school PHRF regatta or an extra no pressure viper regatta.

Just thoughts on how I grew up and what worked.