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Day 2: NYYC Annual Regatta

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Bella Mente Racing experienced another challenging day in Newport as yesterday’s tricky conditions for the Around the Island Race insisted on sticking around this morning. After multiple postponements onshore, the team, along with 188 other competitors, hit the water for one race.

“It was a classic westerly, northwesterly, vacuum day,” said owner/driver Hap Fauth. “An area that needs improvement is our sailing in ultra-light conditions, and the boat went very well as far as I’m concerned. We managed to get around the course without too much difficulty and placed second.

“I hope we get two races in tomorrow and a nice sea breeze would be fantastic. I’ve always loved this regatta and the New York Yacht Club is so hospitable. The entire team has been looking forward to this event.”

Bella Mente: Arriving Home Soon!

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Bella Mente loaded up next to fellow mini maxi Caol Ila R and TP52 Near Miss. The hull is enroute to its homeport of Newport, R.I. where the team will compete next month in the New York Yacht Club’s Annual Regatta presented by Rolex and the Newport to Bermuda Race before heading across the Atlantic to race in Palma de Mallorca, Spain for the Copa del Rey in August and then Porto Cervo, Italy for the Mini Maxi World Championship in September.

Les Voiles de St. Barth: Day 2

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Hap Fauth helms Bella Mente upwind in light air during the second day of racing at Les Voiles de St. Barth (Photo Credit Amory Ross)

Hap Fauth helms Bella Mente upwind in light air during the second day of racing at Les Voiles de St. Barth (Photo Credit Amory Ross)

The weather played tricks on the mini maxi class at Les Voiles de St. Barth this afternoon, but that didn’t stop Bella Mente Racing from finishing first in both of day two’s coastal races. The team heads into the latter half of the week holding the division lead.

“It was a challenging but fun day on the water,” said team strategist John Cutler, adding that although the two 17-mile courses that Bella Mente sailed today were identical the experience on each couldn’t have been more polarized.“Conditions were really shifty and influenced by waves and quite a lot of rain in the first race. That moved the breeze around about 20 to 30 degrees, and at the same time we were going around different points so there was a big shift there. For the second race the rain was replaced with beautiful Caribbean sunshine, and although it was the same course as the first go-around it felt like a completely different race.

“Overall it was a complicated day and we kept just looking forward and waiting for the next shift to come our way.”

Bella Mente Racing, along with the entire Les Voiles de St. Barth fleet will enjoy the event’s traditional lay day tomorrow on Baie Saint Jean and pick up racing where they left off on Friday, April 18th and Saturday, April 19th.

“It is looking like there will be a little more breeze Friday and Saturday so we will see what happens,” added Cutler.

Check out team tactician Terry Hutchinson in LVSB interview yesterday: 

Les Voiles de St. Barth: Day 1

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Day One – Les Voiles de St. Barth (Photo Credit: Christophe Jouany)

After 28 miles and approximately three hours cutting through Caribbean waters, Bella Mente Racing crossed the finish line off Gustavia to take second place in the first race of Les Voiles de St. Barth. Alexander Schaerer’s Caol Ila R holds the lead going into day two of the event.

“It was a great day of racing in St. Barths but the light southwesterly winds made for a challenging jungle course,” said owner/driver Hap Fauth who, like most of the sailors onboard Bella Mente, is marking this as his first time competing at the event. “Caol Ila R sailed an excellent race, but tomorrow we hope to steal the lead.”

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Day One – Les Voiles de St. Barth (Photo Credit: Christophe Jouany)

The team of 22 is stacked with impressive professional sailors from around the world, including Strategist John Cutler, Alternate Helmsman Mike Sanderson and Tactician Terry Hutchinson who join Fauth in the afterguard.

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Bella Mente Racing’s Tactician Terry Hutchinson Les Voiles de St. Barth (Photo Credit: Christophe Jouany)

“It [Les Voiles de St. Barth] has been quite spectacular,” said Hutchinson to event organizers today. “It’s quite a tricky course for navigators – we’ve spent a lot of time after our practice sessions out on the rubber boat measuring different areas and finding rocks. We sailed across a rock yesterday that was charted in 120 meters of water, and we saw it a boat length off and sailed around it. We went back out in a chase boat later and found out we would have run aground had we sailed across it. That makes you a bit apprehensive…but as you can see, the sights around are pretty spectacular and I’m quite thankful to be here.”

The seven boats that make up the Maxi division will see a similar coastal course tomorrow, before taking a mid-week lay day on St. Jean Bay, Thursday, April 17th. Racing will continue Friday, April 18th through Saturday, April 19th.

Stay tuned for updates on the team via Facebook and Twitter and nightly updates here. For event coverage, please visit http://www.lesvoilesdesaintbarth.com/site/ .

LVSB: Bella Talks St. Barths and Birthdays

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Les Voiles de St. Barth Race Fleet dockside in Gustavia Harbour (Photo Credit: Tim Wright)

Les Voiles de St. Barth Race Fleet dockside in Gustavia Harbour (Photo Credit: Tim Wright)

Les Voiles de St. Barth starts tomorrow and after two days of practice on the turquoise waters off St. Barths, Bella Mente Racing, led by owner/driver Hap Fauth, is ready to hit the starting line.

Although a majority of the team mark this year as the first time competing in the event, most of the sailors are not new to the Caribbean’s famed trade winds and rocky coasts, including team coach Tom “Tomac” McLaughlin who just competed in the St. Barths Bucket last month.

“We’ve got a lot of guys that are familiar with the terrain so we are feeling very comfortable,” said Tomac adding that Les Voiles de St. Barth is the first regatta this year where the team will be racing on coastal courses.

“We will use this event to learn as much as possible about this type of racing. Our expectations are quite high and this is a big stepping-stone to help us improve for other events this year that feature this these courses.”

As for the week’s competition in the Maxi Class Tomac added, “The two boats that we are going to focus the most on are Rambler and Caol Ila R; Rambler is the biggest boat in the fleet and a great benchmark for speed while Caol Ila R is closer in size to us and has a pretty good handicap.”

Pirate enjoying a birthday filled with french crepes and warm St. Barth wind

Pirate enjoying a birthday filled with french crepes and warm St. Barth wind

The rest of the week may be intense, but tonight the team is doing some celebrating with boat captain Peter “Pirate” Henderson who is celebrating his birthday today. “A birthday in St. Barths is tough to beat,” said Pirate who, in honor of the island’s French heritage, swapped birthday cake for a crepe this year. “Warm water, trade winds and racing on Bella Mente. There isn’t much more you could ask for.

Racing is scheduled for Tuesday, April 15 through Saturday, April 19 with a lay day on Thursday. The Race Committee has schedule 11 a.m. starts daily and aiming for one long coastal course per day. Tomorrow’s forecast is predicting sun and warm wind from 12 to 18 knots.

Throughout the week, Bella Mente Racing will be posting updates via Facebook and Twitter and blog posts nightly. For event coverage please visit http://www.lesvoilesdesaintbarth.com/site/ .

 

RORC 600 Day 2: Bella Holds the IRC Zero Lead

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From last night onboard: Bella Mente Racing duking it out against Rambler as the sun sets

For the second day of the RORC Caribbean 600, Bella Mente Racing holds first place in IRC Zero on corrected time, and is closing in on Rambler which is currently leading overall on real time. At 7 a.m. this morning, Rambler opened up a four mile lead on the team, but once the yachts rounded St. Martin and began the longest leg of the course to Guadeloupe (170 miles), Bella Mente Racing was able to close the gap by two miles.

Shortly, the team will embark on the beat from Les Saintes to La Desirade – known to be the trickiest section of the course – followed by a rounding of La Desirade (east of Guadeloupe) where competitors often experience very rough conditions due to its exposure in the Atlantic Ocean. From there, the team will be on the home stretch, with a reach downwind to the small island of Redonda and then a 40 mile upwind beat back to Antigua to finish.

If Bella Mente keeps going at the same rate, the team’s estimated finish time is tomorrow, February 26th, at 9:55 a.m.

For more updates from the race and the Bella Mente Racing team, please follow us on Facebook and Twitter
To track the fleet on real time, visit http://caribbean600.rorc.org/2014-fleet-tracking.html
For RORC Caribbean 600 Press Releases, visit http://caribbean600.rorc.org/blog/news/index.html

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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