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 18^th and Saturday, April 19^th.

“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: