Written by Buttons Padin, V640 Class Administrator

Curtis Florence, Chad Corning, and Brad Boston

Brad Boston (Sarnia, Ont.), sailing with Curtis Florence (Cleveland, OH) and Chad Corning (New Rochelle, NY) sat in third place after 11 races over three days of sailing from Alamitos Bay Yacht Club. That trio executed a classic come-from-behind finish on the fourth and final day to claim the 2014 Viper 640 North American Championship. Boston presided over a sailmakers’ boat handling seminar Friday night and was overheard commenting how it was unusual for him to be only four points off the lead without having won any of the 11 races sailed over the first three days. That quickly changed as the fleet of 35 Viper 640s headed out through the breakwater for the final day of racing.

ABYC PRO Steve Kuritz wrapped-up his successful regatta with the following overview: “In the end, it was four great days of racing, and it was really interesting to see how the positions of the top six boats changed from race to race. In the end, Brad Boston “thanked” me for calling him OCS on the day’s first start as it allowed him to quickly restart at the favored boat end and take off to the right side and win his first race.”

Boston’s middle crew, Chad Corning, commented that “It was good going into today with only four points separating the top three boats. We were able to play the favored right side all day and it paid off (line scores 1-1-3). In the end, Brad showed how he can be cool under pressure, keeping the mood on the boat light, and we made our moves to put us into the lead after today’s first race. From there, as the wind continued to build, we just tried to sail in the same neighborhood as Kevin Taugher and Jeff Grange.”

After the third day, Taugher and Boston were tied at 30 points just four points behind Grange who had lead in the scoring from the very first race. In the end, however, it was Taugher who finished second and Grange in third.

This year’s win is Boston’s fourth North American Championship (’09, ’10, ’11) and Corning was the middle crew for Jason Carroll’s NA victory last year in Houston.

Tim Carter, Steve Bloemeke, and Patricia Lapadula

The members and staff of the Alamitos Bay Yacht Club put on a spectacular four days of racing and shore-side hospitality. Tim Carter, ABYC Event Chairman, said “I’m glad it’s over…from an event task perspective; but I’m sorry to see all these great competitors leaving ABYC for their home ports across the country and across oceans, too.” All the competitors expressed their gratitude and appreciation for “Timbo’s” as, without all his efforts, the Championship would not have been such a glowing success.

Results of the Championship can be found at: http://www.abyc.org/upload/2014_Viper_NA3.htm. Photos from Bronny Daniels and Peter Howson are available to view at www.joysailing.com and www.yachtracing.us, respectively.

Next year’s Viper 640 North American Championship will be hosted by Larchmont (NY) Yacht Club in October 2015. Final results can be found on the ABYC website.

The Viper 640 North American Championship is a qualifier regatta for the EFG Viper Pan-American Championship. Also helping make this regatta a success are Ullman Sails, Doyle Sailmakers, North Sails, Quantum Sails, Goslings Rum, the Belmont Brewing Company, Rondar Sailboats USA, Sailing Pro Shop, and Rooster.