Check out this great video feature on Hap Fauth and Bella Mente on the Olympic Channel today!
Watch video by clicking the image below:
It’s a Bella Palma
Bella Mente Owner/Driver Hap Fauth at the helm of his Maxi 72 (© Tomas Moya)
Hap Fauth’s “Bella Mente”, the 2015 Maxi 72 World Champions and overall leaders of the Maxi72 circuit have taken the win at the 35 Copa del Rey MAPFRE in the Montblanc Maxi 72 class. “Bella Mente” has one of the strongest crews in the fleet, lead by crew boss Mike ‘Moose’ Sanderson and tactician Terry Hutchinson, supported by strategist Adrian Stead and navigator Ian Moore.
Fauth has grand prix racing in his DNA, he sets the highest standards for his team and together they have reaped successes around the world, offshore and inshore. The irrepressible owner-driver is loving the Copa del Rey and the host city, Palma.
The Bella Mente Racing Team dockside before the final day of racing at the 35th Copa del Rey MAPFRE (© Tomas Moya)
Fauth opens:
It is a wonderful event, one of the best regattas we attend all year. We have had wonderful conditions except of course for yesterday when racing was blown off the water. I think that was a wise thing to do in terms of protecting people and equipment. The courses have been good we had a 3.2 nautical miles windward leg on Thursday and that was great, it is seems like not often there are times when we can stretch our legs on windward-leeward races.
The Maxi72 delivers every facet of what Fauth enjoys about grand prix racing, team spirit and cohesion, technical development, pressing forwards with technical advances plus the simple pleasures of going fast inshore and offshore, but the watchword to it all is Improvement.
Click here to read the full article by the organizers
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Follow the Maxi 72 Class on the Class Website and Facebook
Follow Copa del Rey MAPFRE on the Official Website, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram
Featured in the Naples Daily News
It’s been an exciting month for Bella Mente with equally exciting headlines in the press. Check out the features on Hap Fauth and his team in Naples Daily News below. For more notable articles, visit our In The Press Section.
For the full article, click image above
For the full article, click image above
For regular team updates, follow Bella Mente Racing on Facebook,Twitter and Instagram.
Bella Strategist Adrian Stead in Yachting World
Strategist Adrian Stead talks Bella Mente and the reemergence of the Maxi 72 fleet in this interview with Yachting World’s Toby Hodges during Cowes Week yesterday.
Click here for more articles featuring Bella Mente Racing
For more updates, follow the team on Facebook, Twitter and Instagramor visit https://bellamenteracing.com/.
Les Voiles de St. Barth: Race Day 2
The Les Voiles de St. Barth fleet experienced classic Caribbean conditions for day two of racing, and Hap Fauth’s Bella Mente thrived, with a flawless start and upwind beat on the 42nm course to Tintamarre and back, taking second place in the Maxi 1 division.
Bella Mente in day two of racing at Les Voiles de St. Barth (Photo Credit: Sharon Green)
“Today was a perfect day for us, the goal was to sail the exact same type of race we were going to sail yesterday,” said Bella Mente’s Tactician Terry Hutchinson, adding that the team still hopes to capture first place in the final two races this week, to help make up the score gap after a minor equipment failure forced them to withdraw from day one of racing. “Hap nailed the start as the pin-end boat. The whole fleet tacked and we went a little further and got a really nice lefty. We sailed up and around the boats to leeward of us and from there it was a matter of good boat handling and executing the sail changes well, which the guys did.”
Bella Mente after a perfect start off St. Barth in day two of racing (Photo Credit: Sharon Green)
Tomorrow marks the regatta’s lay day, famous its festive shoreside event at St. Jean Beach. After that will be two more intense race days on Friday and Saturday.Follow the team on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Instagram, Hashtag: #BellaMenteRacingFor event updates visit www.lesvoilesdesaintbarth.com and follow the regatta via social media on Facebook,Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and Pinterest, Hashtag: #LesVoilesdeSaintBarth
Terry Hutchinson Honored Today as Yachtsman of the Year
Last month, Bella Mente Racing Tactician Terry Hutchinson was named US Sailing’s 2014 Rolex Yachtsman of the Year and today (Thursday, February 26) he will be honored during a luncheon at the New York Yacht Club in Manhattan and presented with a specially-engraved Rolex timepiece.
Hap and Terry celebrating after finishing the RORC Caribbean 600 (Photo Credit: RORC/Ted Martin)
Hutchinson finished the RORC Caribbean 600 with the Bella Mente Racing yesterday in Antigua. The team, led by owner/driver Hap Fauth, currently holds the best time in IRC but there are several yachts still racing that are contending to better that.
Here, Hutchinson weighs in on the race:
This was a great race for Bella Mente as a team. The entire crew’s dedication and hard work has been on display around the clock for the past four days. Without question, we wouldn’t have made it to the start without the great work down by boat captain Pete Henderson and shore crew Kyle Fitzgerald, Kyle Hintze, Ollie Dickens and Ryan Brown; all of who spent 50 hours straight making a substantial repair to Bella’s deck. From there, it was up to the sailing team to not let that effort go to waste.
Our lack of time preparing had the squad a bit off kilter, but the race itself was solid, with great maneuvers, communication and boat speed throughout. Over the fall and winter we have been working hard on our offshore boat inventory and sail sizing. It was good to see our hard work come to fruition in our first distance race of the year. I’m looking forward to seeing the performance data as Bella Mente went well off the breeze.
From a team side we continue to develop. We have a great group with a lot of talent, so allowing everybody to flourish is critical. I can’t say enough about the effort put forward by our team on the bow and in the middle of the boat. Their execution of sail changes was immaculate. Between Moose (Mike Sanderson), Soapy (Ian Moore) and Ado (Adrian Stead) we got more right than wrong in this race, but we still have a lot to refine. All in all, I think I can speak for the entire team when I say we are very optimistic about the future.
