We are stepping back in time to 2006, when the first Bella Mente Racing campaign kicked off. Here is a photo of the team at the Heineken Regatta, which was shortened that year due to light air. Bella Mente took second-place in IRC. Can anyone name all the crewmembers in this picture?
Cast your vote by commenting here or on the team’s Facebook page
(https://www.facebook.com/BellaMenteRacing)
Bella Mente has been stationed at Crackerboy Boat Works in Riviera Beach, Florida since early October. Over the past week, the boat’s winch system and hardware were serviced, and the deck is still undergoing prep work for a paint job that will take place the week of Thanksgiving. The team is also making a few more minor modifications to prepare Bella Mente for the 2014 campaign.
Five of these Bella Mente Racing team belts will be going to randomly selected Facebook fans
Earlier this month we challenged our Facebook fans to help get the Bella Mente Racing page to 1,000 likes. Within the first 48 hours of the announcement, we had exceeded that goal and tomorrow (November 13, 2013), at 10 a.m. E.T., we will announce the five lucky followers that will receive Bella Mente Racing team belts. For a chance to win, please make sure to “like” the page before midnight (E.T.) tonight.
Please visit the page at https://www.facebook.com/BellaMenteRacing
Yesterday, Bella Mente was taken off its keel, and the hull was then moved inside at Crackerboy Boat Works (Riviera Beach, Florida). Over the next week, the hull will be stripped of hardware and cleaned to prep for a deck and cockpit paint job taking place at the end of November. Meanwhile, in Rhode Island Bella Mente’s sails are undergoing repairs and updates in preparation for the team’s 2014 campaign.
Quantum Key West Race Week (Photo Credit Jesús Renedo)
Bella Mente Racing has wrapped up its 2013 campaign, and here is a photo timeline showing one of the team’s favorite photos from each of the events this year. We are already getting excited for 2014!
RORC Caribbean 600 ( Photo Credit RORC/Tim Wright/Photoaction.com)
GAASTRA PalmaVela (Photo Credit Jesús Renedo)
Giraglia Rolex Cup (Rolex / Carlo Borlenghi)
Aberdeen Asset Management Cowes Week (Photo Credit Rick Tomlinson)
Rolex Fastnet Race (Photo Credit Rolex / Kurt Arrigo)
Mini Maxi Rolex World Championship (Rolex / Carlo Borlenghi)
The first day of racing started with a whimper, as the Wind Gods failed to live up to their blustery reputation in Porto Cervo. Bella Mente Racing wrestled with precarious conditions in the first coastal race of the 2013 Mini Maxi Rolex World Championship, finishing in ninth place.
Day 1 of the Mini Maxi Rolex World Championship (Photo Credit Jesús Renedo)
Today began with an hour and a half of postponements onshore followed by a race start in just 7-8 knots of wind. However, the Race Committee handled the marginal weather conditions with grace, taking the Mini Maxi fleet on a two mile windward beat, followed by a 25 mile coastal course, comprised of classic Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup landmarks: an eight mile run around the Island of Mortorio, a passage through Capo Ferro and roundings of Monaci and Secca di Tre Monti before a finish in Porto Cervo.
Day 1 of the Mini Maxi Rolex World Championship (Photo Credit Jesús Renedo)
Bella Mente battled the Italian entry Stig on the beat up to the Monaci rounding, and the second-to-last leg of the race was a tricky run, which included a jib reach into the Gulf of Pevero.
Day 1 of the Mini Maxi Rolex World Championship (Photo Credit Jesús Renedo)
The crew work onboard Bella Mente was flawless today. Hap and the team have already shaken off today’s results and look forward to tomorrow’s racing, which will include two windward leeward races. Stay tuned!
(View the event’s coastal courses by visiting, http://www.yccs.it/images/
Day 1 of the Mini Maxi Rolex World Championship (Photo Credit Jesús Renedo)
The original Bella Mente Racing campaign kicked off in 2006 with Key West Race Week, and since then owner and skipper Hap Fauth has had three additional racing yachts in the program.
Launched in September of 2018, the current Bella Mente is a Maxi 72 designed by Botin Partners in Spain and built by New England Boatworks in Rhode Island.
