5/31/10: Victory for BELLA MENTE, “Gut” Instinct Secures Block Island Race


LARCHMONT, N.Y. (May 31, 2010) – In a race where choosing sides is key, the crew aboard Hap Fauth’s (Minneapolis, Minn.) 69-foot Mini Maxi Bella Mente used their “Gut” instinct and flawless teamwork to win the Storm Trysail Club’s 65th Block Island Race. The 186 nautical mile race began Friday afternoon, May 28, and sent Bella Mente and 95 other IRC- and PHRF-rated boats off on a course from Stamford, Conn. (where host Stamford Yacht Club is located), down Long Island Sound, clockwise around Block Island (R.I.), and back. Choosing Plum Gut over an equally notorious passage called “The Race” on the way to Block Island and then again coming back, proved critical to Bella Mente in its taking of line honors after almost 19 1/2 hours of sailing. While Bella Mente finished at 11:40 Saturday morning of Memorial Day weekend, the last of the smaller boats finished nearly 23 hours later.

“It’s the key to every Block Island Race, choosing between ‘The Gut’ and The Race,” said Bella Mente’s navigator Dirk Johnson (Middletown, R.I.), who picked the former for both heading out and heading in. “Frankly from a navigational perspective, it’s a true test. Anyone can make it on a fair tide, but we hit it at foul tide both ways, and for a two-mile stretch on the way back, the crew had to make four sail changes. They had to be ready for everything and be flawless at all times.”

Link to the Storm Trysail website for the complete 2010 Press Release

Photo: Bella Mente at NEB preparing for the 2010 Race Season

Bella Mente preparing for the 2010 race season