Grace Howie wins Viper 640 Women’s North Americans

Darien, CT (October 3, 2021) – The 2021 Viper 640 Women’s North American Championship was won by Grace Howie with crew Meredith Killion, Cardwell Potts, and Ted Ferrarone, posting all top four scores in the six-race series. After holding the lead with four races yesterday, Howie’s team rolled a 1-2 today for a dominating effort in the 18-boat fleet.

The winds today were lighter, offering 5-6 knots from the southwest, and while a third race was attempted, a major wind shift and conditions that turned the fleet inside out led to its abandonment.

The key for many teams, however, was attaining the sixth race allowing a throw out. This was particularly the case for Cam Farrah (Ft. Walton, FL) sailing with her father Cliff and Jackson Benvenutti. On day one, Cam posted scores of 8-1-1 12, the 12th resulting from an OCS start. Posting a 2-1 performance today and dropping the 12th, Cam and crew moved up from fifth to second overall.

The final podium position was claimed by Sarah Warren (Pawcatuck, CT) sailing with Hanna King, Mark Zagol, and Tim Desmond.

Howie, who had never been in a Viper before the event, benefited from having Potts and Ferrarone who have been sailing together for close to a decade. “We really had good boat speed up wind, especially when we were in the lead and could concentrate on straight line speed.

“Being four-up made us heavier than many boats and allowed up to power-up the boat more by pressing, bow down and going fast. Once you got on the long tack, it was a drag race to the mark, and we appeared to have better boat speed than the other boats.”

The background of this inaugural Viper 640 Women’s North Americans started two years ago, initially to be a Worlds event in 2020 but postponed and converted to a continental championship due to COVID-19 international travel restrictions.

From the beginning, it was acknowledged that it would be difficult to field a sizeable fleet of all-women crewed Vipers as only a handful of the Vipers are owned and regularly helmed by women. As a result, the rules permit a mixed crew as long as the helm was a woman, and most boats consist of at least half women or majority female teams, and there was one all-female team.

Racing was held October 2-3, 2021.

Race details – Results – Facebook

Final Results (6 races, 1 discard)
1. Grace Howie/ Cardwell Potts/ Meredith Killion/ Ted Ferrarone, 1-[4]-3-1-1-2; 8
2. Cam Farrah/ Cliff Farrah/ Jackson Benvenutti, 8-1-1-[12]-2-1; 13
3. Sarah Warren/ Mark Zagol/ Tim Desmond/ Hannah King, 5-3-2-[6]-3-3; 16
4. Mary Ewenson/ Austin Powers/ Keenan Hilsinger, 3-6-[7]-4-5-5; 23
5. Jane Moore/ Vir menon/ Marian/ Parker Moore, 2-2-4-7-10-[14]; 25
6. Megan Grapengeter-Rudnick/ Janet Grapengeter/ Kelly McGlynn/ Ragna Eide, 4-7-5-[11]-6-8; 30
7. Emily Haig/ Bob McHugh/ Victor Jouault, 6-5-8-8-[14]-6; 33
8. Nicole Weaver/ Peter Ill/ Jimmy Praley/ Kayla Harper, 7-10-6-3-8-[12]; 34
9. Eleni Asimacopoulos/ Cole Constantineau/ Matthew Hebert, 10-11-10-2-4-[16]; 37
10. Rachel Beardsley/ Rachel Rhame/ Peter Beardsley, 12-9-[14]-5-7-7; 40
11. Marilyn Cassedy Lenka Stepan, 16-8-9-[18]-15-4; 52
12. Colin Santangelo, 11-12-11-[13]-13-13; 60
13. Nathaniel Bowditch/ Eden Bowditch/ Arden Carleton/ Piper Carleton, 17]-14-16-10-12-10; 62
14. Carolyn Marsh/ Jacob Vick/ Evan Olmstead, 13-13-12-15-11-[17]; 64
15. Mike Lebov/ Vanessa Healy/ Alexi Schwartzkopff, 14-[20/DNF]-19/OCS-9-9-15; 66
16. Taylor Hart/ Taylor Hart/ Warren Costikyan/ Christina Hart/ Ella Seymour, 15-16-13-14-[17]-9; 67
17. Katie Morgan/ Joseph Healey/ Britt Hall, 9-15-[17]-17-16-11; 68
18. Marcelo Pereira/ Judith Krimski/ Grace Olsen, 18]-17-15-16-18-18; 84

Source: Buttons Padin