It wasn't just Bermuda's young Byte sailors and four-time Olympian Peter Bromby who made a splash overseas last week.

Somers Kempe, the rear commodore of the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club, also proved to be a star when he placed second in the Viper class at the Bacardi Cup in Miami.

Kempe, with crew Douglas DeCouto and William Thompson, was sailing for only the second time in the Viper 640 and managed to beat a number of world class sailors and former Olympians in the regatta which also doubled as the Viper North American Championships.

Last year at the same regatta they finished fourth.

American skipper Lee Shuckerow won the regatta which finished on Saturday.

Kempe said this week: "Peter Bromby was able to pass on some valuable tips about the wind and racing in Biscayne Bay and the crew of Douglas DeCouto and William Thompson worked real hard all week long to help give us our best result yet against some very well respected sailors. Out of a fleet of 21 boats and over the nine races we never had a finish worse than fourth which was quite an achievement.

"The event was the class's 2010 North American Championships and also the first event of their Pan American series which will include a further two regattas – CORK week in Canada and the High Performance Dinghy Open in Rye, New York later in the year.

"We are thinking about competing in these events – but of course time and money is a factor."

The Viper 640 is a high-performance one-design sport boat. At 21 feet long and weighing only 748 pounds, it combines the stiffness of a keelboat with the acceleration and planning abilities of a dinghy.

Kempe added: "We went down last year and had a good time so we decided to go back this year."

And although there are no Vipers in Bermuda, Kempe said that he would like to see the class on local waters at some point in the future.

"The Viper is a sport boat – they are simple and fun. And the people in the class are very friendly. We had some help from the other competitors – we have a good rapport with them. It is a great class and everyone shares their knowledge."

Last week saw Bermuda's Byte sailors qualify the Island for this summer's Youth Olympics in Singapore after a qualifying regatta in the Cayman Islands.

And Bromby just missed out on winning the Star class at the Miami Sailing Week when he broke his mast in the last race while leading on Saturday.