Boston tops western teams to win Viper 640 North Americans

Long Beach, CA (September 6, 2014) – As Southern California beach communities prepared for high surf generated by Hurricane Norbert, the 34-boat Viper 640 North American Championship prepared for its own storm. After three days and 11 races, three teams entered the final day with a near equal grasp on the title.

With three races remaining, Brad Boston (Sarnia, Ont.) sat in third place, tied with local Kevin Taugher, and trailing event leader Jeff Grange (Santa Barbara, CA) by four points. But the final day was owned by the Canadian, where his team of Curtis Florence (Cleveland, OH) and Chad Corning (New Rochelle, NY) posted a 1-1-3 to take the title.

“It was good going into today with only four points separating the top three boats,” noted Corning. “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 Taugher and Grange.”

This year’s win is Boston’s fourth North American Championship (’09, ’10, ’11, ’14) and Corning was the middle crew for Jason Carroll’s NA victory last year in Houston. Winning the Corinthian Trophy was Taugher’s team of Mike Pentecost and Chuck Tripp. Next year’s Viper 640 North American Championship will be hosted by Larchmont (NY) Yacht Club in October 2015.

Event website – Results