Bella Mente was forced to retire from the RORC Caribbean 600 at about 12:30 a.m. local time this morning due to damage. Bella is back at Falmouth Harbor Marina in Antigua, and all onboard are well. A full update to follow.
RORC 600: February 23 Update
(Photo Credit: RORC/Emma Louise Wyn Jones)
Bella Mente Racing holds the first place position in IRC Zero and CSA Overall and second in IRC Overall going into the second overnight in the RORC Caribbean 600. The team has rounded the southern tip of Guadeloupe’s main island and is now headed northeast toward La Désirade at a speed of 10.9 knots. Only 202 nautical miles to the finish off Antigua!
2016 RORC Caribbean 600 start Highlights
RORC 600: February 22 Update
IRC Start off Antigua in the 2016 RORC Caribbean 600
The team, led by owner/driver Hap Fauth, started the race with lots of speed in a 14-knot southeasterly breeze and held the top position in IRC off the line. Going into tonight, Bella Mente Racing holds the fifth and fourth place position in IRC Overall and IRC Zero, respectively. They are currently over 100 nautical miles into the 600-mile race around 11 Caribbean islands.
Prior to leaving the dock, Bella Mente Racing’s Mike Sanderson gave his take on how the 2016 race would unfold. “In a nutshell, I am very excited about this race. We have four top Maxi 72s to duke it out on the racecourse with, and there are many other very competitive IRC teams of different size boats that will also be very hard to beat (Highland Fling IV, Spookie, Lucky and Varuna to name just a few). It’s going to be a very tough race with management of sleep being a major factor.”
Stay tuned for another update on the team tomorrow morning.
How to Follow Bella Mente Racing at the RORC Caribbean 600:
Track the Fleet
Play the Virtual Race
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Read Event Race News and Blogs
Follow Bella Mente Racing on Facebook
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RORC 600 Starts Tomorrow!
After a four-day practice session in Antigua, Bella Mente Racing gets underway in the highly anticipated RORC Caribbean 600 tomorrow (Monday, February 22) at 11:20 a.m. The team is the defending champion in the 600-mile race, which starts off Fort Charlotte in Antigua and takes its fleet around 11 Caribbean islands.
The team preparing the boat prior to the race:
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- Navigator, Ian “Soapy” Moore
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- Tactician, Terry Hutchinson
“The boat is tuned, the crew is in awesome shape and the Bella Team is ready to give it their all in this iconic Caribbean race,” said Bella Mente Racing’s Owner/Driver Hap Fauth, adding that this year, the event is hosting a record number of entries, with 70 teams registered to be on the starting line tomorrow.
The team is looking at some tight competition in IRC and will need to get the better of three other equally matched Maxi 72s in order to hold onto their title as overall winner and retain the RORC Caribbean 600 Trophy.
Weather Condition Forecast:
Weather models are predicting 14 knots of wind from the south east at the start, freshening to 20 knots in the early hours of Tuesday morning with the wind in the east. By Wednesday morning the wind speed is due to increase and by Thursday weather models predict 25 knots of wind from the east. By the afternoon, the wind is forecast to move to the south east and decrease.
How to Follow Bella Mente Racing at the RORC Caribbean 600:
Track the Fleet
Play the Virtual Race
Follow the RORC Caribbean 600 on Facebook
Follow the RORC Caribbean 600 on Twitter
Read Event Race News and Blogs
Follow Bella Mente Racing on Facebook
Follow Bella Mente Racing on Instagram
Follow Bella Mente Racing on Twitter
RORC 600: How to Follow
On Monday, February 22, Bella Mente Racing along with the rest of the record 70-boat fleet at the RORC Caribbean 600 will kick off the 8th edition the offshore race around 11 Caribbean islands. This year, the team, led by owner/driver Hap Fauth, will need to get the better of three other equally matched Maxi 72s in order to hold onto their title as overall winner and retain the RORC Caribbean 600 Trophy.
2015 RORC Caribbean 600 (Photo Credit: Tim Wright)
How to Follow Bella Mente Racing at the RORC Caribbean 600:
Track the Fleet
Play the Virtual Race
Follow the RORC Caribbean 600 on Facebook
Follow the RORC Caribbean 600 on Twitter
Read Event Race News and Blogs
Follow Bella Mente Racing on Facebook
Follow Bella Mente Racing on Instagram
Follow Bella Mente Racing on Twitter
Bella in Antigua
Bella Mente’s yacht transport ship arriving in St. Johns, Antigua yesterday (Photo Credit Peter Henderson)
Bella Mente and the team’s containers were unloaded in St. Johns, Antigua yesterday. On February 22, the team will take on the RORC Caribbean 600, which kicks off from the island.
En Route to Antigua
The ship to Antigua arrived this week and Bella Mente Racing’s containers, cradle and Maxi 72 namesake were all loaded yesterday. It was relatively windy during the loading but all went smoothly. The ship is also carrying Jethou and a couple of TP 52s.
Next up for the team is the RORC Caribbean 600, which kicks off February 22 in Antigua.
QKWRW: Maxi 72 Winners
Bella Mente Racing is continuing to ride its wave of success into the New Year, taking the Maxi 72 Class win at Quantum Key West Race Week, the first event of the team’s 2016 campaign. The team also won “Boat of the Week”. The regatta, which commenced on Monday, January 15, cancelled its final day of racing today, January 22, due to inclement weather.
Hap Fauth
Bella Mente, along with the entire fleet of Maxi 72s, was ready to race and off the dock at 10 a.m. but unfortunately sailing conditions worsened to 30 knots with driving rain and an ebb tide swell against the southerly wind. The Race Committee abandoned the race at 11:30.
Our victory for the week was a great way to start the 2016 season. The entire Bella crew was outstanding all week.”
Mike Sanderson
The thing that feels especially good about winning with Bella Mente is the fact that it isn’t one thing that has made the difference, it’s improvement across the board that has done it. It really feels like we as a team have developed in every aspect of the campaign over the last 12 months.
What’s even better is that it’s just a whole lot of fun also. We have a great bunch of guys, and there is no doubt that when Hap gives us the ‘hike her down boys,’ we all push that little bit harder, as he is just such a great owner and a wonderful guy. This year is going to be a very tough one in the Maxi 72 class; it was noticeable how much better the fleet was getting with each day this week.
We are already looking forward to the next event, which is the Caribbean 600 next month. We won it overall last year, and it would be amazing to do it again in 2016.”
QKWRW: Day 4
Bella Mente wrapped up today at Quantum Key West Race Week with first place finishes in all three races in the Maxi 72 Class. The team, led by Owner/Driver Hap Fauth, “won boat of the day” for Thursday and leads the class going into tomorrow, the final day of racing.
Adrian Stead
Today we got three great starts in, which gave us the option to control the game and go where we wanted. It was a subtle day with the easterly/northeasterly wind backing out for the second race and then filling in for the third; a day for inches and feet here and there. We worked the boat beautifully, sailing it to its numbers with an awesome team effort.”
Mike “Moose” Sanderson
The highlight for me today was that it was 100 percent throughout the boat and that made for a good day. Everything didn’t go perfectly, far from it, but everyone was cool, calm and collected on Bella Mente. To win all three races when you are up against the competition we are, in the Maxi 72 class, is a very nice feeling.”
Terry Hutchinson
I am with Moose. Coupled by some glamour starts by Hap, Soapy, and Doogie, it was a solid team day on Bella Mente.”
Click here for event press release
QKWRW: Day 3
After heavy winds cancelled yesterday’s racing, Bella Mente and the rest of the fleet at Quantum Key West Race Week took to the water today in a perfect 15-18 knot northeasterly. The team raced three races with the Maxi 72 Class and go into tomorrow holding the lead, two points ahead of Caol Ila R.
“The team was on their game today,” said Owner/Driver Hap Fauth. “We had good starts, sailed clean, stayed inside the shifts and did well in the face of strong competition.”
Two-time Rolex Yachtsman of the Year Terry Hutchinson and America’s Cup veteran Adrian Stead of Great Britain are serving as tactician and strategist, respectively, on Bella Mente.*
“Tactically, Terry is on top of his game and working very well with Ado,” Fauth said. “Our goal today was to start well and stay clean. We didn’t want to get tangled up with the other boats like we did on Monday.”
Racing resumes Thursday at 11:30 AM, with another three races expected in another day of similar breeze.
*From Event Media
Click here for event press release
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