Bella Mente Racing - Setting Her Bar High

With two successful regattas in its wake, Bella Mente Racing moves full steam ahead toward the next seven events on its 2014 calendar. First on the horizon for the sailing team of 22, led by owner/driver Hap Fauth (Minneapolis, Minn./Naples, Fla.), is Les Voiles de St. Barth later this month (April 14-19).

Bella Mente and other IRC competitors starting at the RORC Caribbean 600 earlier this year
(Photo Credit: Tim Wright/photoaction.com).

“In order to stay on top of the competition we need to be constantly improving our game,” said Fauth who earlier this year raced his 72-foot Judel/Vrolijk Bella Mente to a mini maxi class win at Quantum Key West Race Week and then outran expected frontrunner, the 90-foot Rambler, to claim line honors at the RORC Caribbean 600. “We are currently experimenting with different elements to get faster from both a crew and boat standpoint.”

This will be Fauth’s first time competing at Les Voiles de St. Barth, and although Bella Mente Racing has already proven its skill in buoy-to-buoy and distance racing this year, the six-day event will put the team’s coastal racing skills to the test.

Bella Mente during this year’s Quantum Key West Race Week when the team won the mini maxi class
(Photo Credit: Onne van der Wal)

“We use the phrase ‘sailing with ourselves,’ and that applies tactically and strategically on a coastal racecourse,” added Fauth. “If we sail well and don’t make any mistakes the outcome will take care of itself. But, like any regatta, you’ve got to practice to get everyone back in sync.”

When he’s not racing, Fauth is at the helm of numerous business ventures covering a spectrum of industries – from agriculture to aerospace – and applies the same mentality on the water that he does in the boardroom: “There is no such thing as status quo. If you’re not going forward you are going backwards.

“Onboard Bella Mente, we always choose to go forward and as a result we are in a constant state of motion, trying to get better: better speed, better chemistry, better execution, better focus and better commitment to winning.”

Bella Mente during the RORC Caribbean 600 in February (Photo Credit Tim Wright).

After Les Voiles de St. Barth, Bella Mente will head north to Newport, R.I. for the month of June to race at the 160th New York Yacht Club Annual Regatta presented by Rolex and start the 635-mile Newport Bermuda Race. Later that month, the team will race in the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club Annual Regatta before shipping Bella Mente to Europe for the 33rd Copa del Rey MAPFRE in August, the Mini Maxi Rolex World Championship in September and the Rolex Middle Sea Race in October.

More about Bella Mente Racing
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 two additional racing yachts in the program. Launched in Spring 2012, the new Bella Mente is a 72-foot Mini Maxi designed by judel/vrolijk yacht design and built by New England Boatworks. Notable features include a Hall Spars mast; Southern Spars eC6 carbon rigging; running rigging supplied by T-E-C, winches and drive system by Harken and Stay in Phase; hydraulics by Navtec and Cariboni; most sails built by North Sails along with specialty Doyle Sails.

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