https://bellamenteracing.com/bellamente/215/

The mast came down coming off a wave. We are all ok but a bummed.

It’s 10:40 at night, and I just finished packing my gear and getting sorted. We had another long and busy day. We met up at 9 am to work on the boat until about 1. At 1 we went sailing for a few hours to look at some more sails and a few small details. It all went well but as soon as we hit the dock, it was time to load the boat with food, sails, spares… There was quite a large list of “todo’s” in order to get the boat ready for some offshore sailing. There is quite a lot left to do before Transpac, but we felt that we have done the best we can to get the boat ready for this event.
For a quick overview, 7 weeks ago, the boat arrived into Palm Beach from Key West Race Week. From that point on, the boat was lengthened 5 feet, 2 bigger kites and 1 new Fractional 0 were built, mast rake was changed enough so that we had to redesign some parts and get them built, installed, and tested, mast tuned to the new rake, new kite sheets built, countless strops, slices, reinforced boom and all locking reefs, changes on the underwater appendages, kelp cutters installed, water maker intake rebuilt, endoscope system installed, stacking system sorted… The list goes on and needless to say the team has been busy.
We are all anxious to get started on the race so that we can focus on racing and learning the boat for Transpac. The start is tomorrow at noon. There will be tracker so you should be able to follow at http://cloud.iboattrack.com/r/start.php?r=2011_newportbeach_cabo
The are some different forecast with one being a quick race and the other being a slow one. So we will see but either way, we will be working hard to pass the boats that started today. Time for me to get some rest.
Later,
Doogie

Today was a good day of looking at sails and sorting out some details in boat systems. We were off the dock around 11 am. I struggled a little to get our new big head main on, but after a few different techniques, we finally found a solution to getting it plugged in. Basically, the main is so big at the head, that the weight and angle of the battens make it very awkward to plug into the headboard car and top batten car. Once the main went up, we looked at our new Fractional 0. This sail is to replace our very successful Fro. This new sail is designed to take advantage of the rating rule for Transpac and make sure we have a good sail for the first part of the race. We also looked at our very large new kites that are bigger and try to take advantage of our longer stern. We came in around 3:30 and then went right into boat work mode. We had a small repair to perform on the headfoil, tighten our bobstay lashing, work on water maker and water storage systems…
Ryan (Super Nipper) has been a huge help to our team. He is constantly working on the boat and taking on an ever growing list of jobs. Guys like him are key to a team to keep getting projects done when the sailors leave the boat.
I also noticed some impressive sail making skills today. Yesterday, part of the main was hitting the lock and forcing the lock to open. So part of the main had to be cut away to solve this issue. Blue (Tomac – those of you who have seen Old School should understand the reference) took a battery operate jig saw, and without tracing or measuring, and ignoring all OSHA rules, held the head of the main in hand, and cut the offending piece of cloth. Pure Skill!

Hap enjoying the once again modified Bella Mente. He's standing, on the new section of boat.

We’ve had a long 2 days. We launched the boat yesterday at 6 am, measured the boat, then worked on it all day. At 6 pm, we headed back to the crew house for a quick bite to eat, a shower, and then back to the boat for a night delivery up to Long Beach. The delivery was uneventful but it was still a long night. We arrived in Long Beach at 7:30, docked the boat, and headed off for breakfast. After that, we headed back to the boat and kept working on it before sailing for a couple of hours in the afternoon. We returned back to the harbor and left the boat at 6 pm. So we were a little knackered.
Good news is we got our new BIG head main up. The top of the head is about 10 ft across. It has definitely powered the boat up. The sail was mainly to check on some mods we had done and make sure everything was safe. Tomorrow is a full crew practice with everyone showing up tonight.

The boat is in the water and measured. It all went pretty smoothly with no issues. We will continue to work on the boat all day and then deliver it up to Long Beach overnight.