A 31-boat fleet of Melges 24s met at the Davis Island YC in Tampa, Fla., Nov. 14-16, 2014 for their national championship.
In the open class, Bora Gulari’s New England Ropes/West Marine Rigging went into the final day of racing on Sunday tied with Brian Porter’s Full Throttle. In the first race of the day, Porter was able to roll over Gulari after the start, forcing Gulari to the unfavored right side of the course. Porter controlled the race from there and went on to win the championship title with a race to spare. In the Corinthian division (amateur), Kevin Nixon’s Accru+, posted a 17th place finish in the penultimate race. Ryan Glaze’s Gringo had an opportunity to steal the lead away in the final race, but Nixon and his crew were able to hold on to win.