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Bella Mente Third in Copa del Rey MAPFRE; All Eyes Forward to World Championship

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PALMA DE MALLORCA, SPAIN (August 6, 2019) — In a hard-fought three-way battle with Cannonball and Proteus, Hap Fauth’s (Naples, Fla.) Bella Mente wound up third in the Maxi 72 class at the 2019 Copa del Rey MAPFRE held in Palma de Mallorca, Spain. The six-day event, which concluded on Saturday, August 3rd, started with a four-day series (Monday, July 29th – Thursday, August 1st) comprised of seven races (one discard) that put Bella Mente in second place behind the Italian-flagged Cannonball. Then, in a unique twist on traditional scoring, Bella Mente was required to carry forward her resulting two-point score to be counted in her score line for the final racing series that saw three more races completed over two days (Friday and Saturday).

Bella Mente at the 2019 Copa del Rey MAPFRE.
(Photo credit: Bella Mente Racing/Andrew Palfrey 2019

“After posting finishes on Friday of 3-1 to Cannonball’s 1-3, we had a chance to win it all going into the final race on Saturday,” said Bella Mente’s tactician Terry Hutchinson, “but in order to do so we had to win the race. If Cannonball took second, we would share the same score but beat them on countback in a tie breaker.”

In the final race, the American-flagged Proteus became the spoiler, winning the final race to secure second overall, while Cannonball finished second in the race to claim overall victory.

“Bella Mente had spent five days at the end of June tuning against Cannonball and Proteus,” said Hutchinson, explaining that Bella Mente’s primary focus now is September’s Maxi 72 World Championship, which Bella Mente has won three times. “To be successful at the Worlds in Porto Cervo, it is critical to know our strengths and weaknesses against our competition, and both the tuning and the Copa del Rey Mapfre regatta helped us further to determine those, so it was a good gain for Bella Mente.”

The Copa del Rey Mapfre was the first regatta to put the new Bella Mente (launched in September 2018) and its 20+ crew members through their paces since they competed in the Wirth M. Munroe Miami to Palm Beach Yacht Race last December. (For various reasons, Bella Mente had to bow out of competing in two Caribbean events and the Rolex Capri Sailing Week, which had originally been entered on its competition schedule.)

“It was good to set a base line for Bella Mente’s performance,” said Hutchinson. “To be successful in these boats, you have to develop in a smart manner. Cannonball is very fast and refined; Proteus and Bella Mente are much closer, but I would give a slight advantage to Proteus, especially upwind.”

Hutchinson added that while the Bella Mente Racing team delivered on all aspects of shore-side and racing excellence, there is work to do in the areas of “consistently good starts” and “putting together” races from start to finish.  “The other boats are very well sailed and for Bella Mente, it means we have some work to do, which is all good!”

Sponsors for Bella Mente Racing include Churchill Yachts, DICKEY-john, ESC, New England Boatworks, Spectrum, Tekran and TSI.

For more information, visit https://bellamenteracing.com/. Follow Bella Mente Racing on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Instagram.

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Les Voiles de St. Barth Update

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After competing in the RORC Caribbean 600 later this month, Bella Mente Racing will shift gears for Les Voiles de St. Barth, the third event in its 2015 campaign. The team, led by owner/driver Hap Fauth, will go up against a number of famously talented sailors and highly skilled teams at the six-day regatta, scheduled from April 13-18 off St. Barth.

2014 Les Voiles de St Barth (Photo Credit: Amory Ross)

2014 Les Voiles de St Barth (Photo Credit: Amory Ross)

Les Voiles de St. Barth’s Maxi Division boasts seven teams to-date, including two of the world’s newest racing yachts, Comanche and Rambler 88. 

Bella Mente Racing’s Terry Hutchinson, US Sailing’s most recently named Rolex Yachtsman of the Year added that he looks forward to meeting up with his old friend Loïck Peyron, who has been named “Ambassador” of the regatta this year. Peyron, too, has just won his country’s highest sailing honor, having been named the French Sailing Federation’s 2014 Sailor of the Year for winning the 10th edition of the Route du Rhum with his 130-foot trimaran Banque Populaire (designed by the same French contingent behind Comanche).

2014 Les Voiles de St Barth (Photo Credit: Jouany Christophe)

2014 Les Voiles de St Barth (Photo Credit: Jouany Christophe)

“I know Loïck well,” said Hutchinson, explaining that the two overlapped during the last America’s Cup at Artemis Racing, when Hutchinson was the skipper and Peyron was a consultant (before transitioning into helmsman) due to his vast multihull experience. “He took me sailing on Banque Populaire when I was in Lorient, and it was just awesome. To consider some of the stuff he has done…all that goes into it…all the planning…that stuff doesn’t just happen.” (Peyron is also athree-time winner of the Observer Single-Handed Trans-Atlantic Race, two-time winner of the Transat Jacques Vabre, and current holder of the Jules Verne Trophy (for the fastest circumnavigation around the world.)

Terry Hutchinson at the 2014 Les Voiles de St Barth (Photo Credit: Jouany Christophe)

Terry Hutchinson at the 2014 Les Voiles de St Barth (Photo Credit: Jouany Christophe)

“I always came to Saint Barth at the end of a transatlantic race and was so tired I never had time to enjoy myself,” said Peyron, who remedied the situation by competing aboard the maxi yacht Sojana in the inaugural Les Voiles de St. Barth (2010). “By participating in Les Voiles de St. Barth, I was finally able to appreciate the island, as picture-perfect as a post card. The trade winds, the turquoise waters, and these magnificent boats…. We are really lucky to be able to sail in such an extraordinary place!”

Hutchinson, who sailed on Bella Mente during last year’s event only to have all hopes of winning dashed when the boat broke its mast, concurred: “Les Voiles de St. Barth and the RORC Caribbean 600 – those are the go-to regattas in the Caribbean,” he said. “The island (of St. Barth) is beautiful, and the sailing is really great: coastal racing with some good windward/leeward elements to it. And shoreside…you’ve got to work pretty hard to complain about St. Barth.”

For more information on Les Voiles de St. Barth, visit http://www.lesvoilesdesaintbarth.com/

Photo Gallery: Copa del Rey

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Photo Credit: Jesus Renedo (click here for more photos of Bella Mente Racing’s adventures) 

About Bella Mente

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.

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