Seen on the way to winning the 2023 Maxi World Championship, Bella Mente enjoy comprehensive sharing of talent and resources with the New York Yacht Club American Magic Cup syndicate – not least that Bella Mente owner Hap Fauth is CEO of the US Cup challenger. The New York YC can look back on autumn 2023 contentedly: their Cup team was strongly fancied going into the first ‘Act’ then lived up to expectations with a display of good boatspeed, excellent starting plus solid course management. Not yet quite on the pace of Team NZ, but clearly getting on top of the low-riding technique that looks likely to be a big factor come autumn 2024
distance is 75m and boats can accumulate multiple penalties. The umpires would dearly like to have ‘turns’ rather than having
arguments over the radio with the skippers about whether a penalty has been offloaded. If the rule for offloading penalties is changed a ‘turn’ is likely to be 180°. In a 20-minute race anything more would probably be impossible to overcome. Another important feature of the RRSAC: Rule 18 (mark room) is
very different. It’s much simpler – and might be worth adopting in the regular RRS. In RRSAC it’s also the same at the windward and leeward marks. If boats are overlapped when the first boat reaches the zone at a mark the inside boat has rights to room. Full stop. It doesn’t matter which boat gets to the zone first. It doesn’t
matter if one of them has to tack to round the mark. It doesn’t matter if one is on port and the other is on starboard. The inside boat has mark room rights. One important condition: use it or lose it. If the inside boat sails past the layline or sails out of the zone they lose the mark room rights. Closing thought based on a sign seen in a machine shop: ‘We’ll
complete your project fast, with high quality and low cost. Pick any two.’ Good racing in reasonable conditions. Stadium racing close to shore. Fixed time window for TV. Pick two.
CupExperience.com
BINGO – Terry Hutchinson Well… the changes to Bella Menteworked! What an absolute blinder of a week for Hap Fauth who gave 110 per cent – same as last year and yet 2023 was a different result. Hap rose to the occasion to have his best week driving and reaped the benefit of decisions made nine months earlier. Maxi World Champion! Changes At the end of last year’s worlds we were scratching our
heads.Bella’s top mark deltas were 2,1,1,1,1 yet we only managed to win one race. It was frustrating, to say the least, and in retrospect methodical change was needed. Mike ‘Moose’ Sanderson, who had broken his hip and so watched
from afar, prompted the team with some aggressive discussion and ideas – most notably the twin-rudders. During the debate we followed
the process used onboard the Quantum Racing during the successful 2022 TP52 season, similarly enlisting the help of Artemis Tech - nologies. Artemis and Botín Partners worked together to address concerns about Bella Mente’s reaching performance while not losing her strength around the starting line. Matching the learnings from Botín’s Cannonball, with water ballast,
Bella went through a menu of options: twin-rudder or single, water ballast and new Artemis fin and bulb. The changes were a lot and, while water ballast and fin and bulb were known entities, Moose and Soapy’s (Ian Moore) experience with twin-rudders was paramount. This, balanced with continual analysis/review by Nico Rousselon
at Artemis Technologies, steered us in a new direction. Rudder sizing and placement were key drivers to not losing BellaMente’s starting prowess while improving reaching performance. As boat captain Pete Henderson and the shore team perfectly executed the water ballast system the evaluation of the twin-rudders came to fruition. Hap led the discussion – and the decision – based on science,
predicted performance and ultimately his risk assessment. As you can imagine there are strong opinions at this table, but this is not a table that is driven by the loudest voice. Hap made the call to go twin-rudders and project manager Rob Oulette and boat captain Pete executed. The racing side of the programme continued chipping away at practice regattas in Newport and Block Island. Execution The proof is in the results. Winning would not have
happened without racing well. George Sakellaris’s Proteus, sistership to last year’s winner Vesper, was on form in 2023. Guided by tactician Morgan Larson, Proteuskept it tight and it was not until the last race of the worlds that Bella Mente eeked out a 3pt win. Relief was the emotion of the day and pure happiness for Hap.
Those of us who have the privilege of racing with Hap know how his commitment to success is unwavering. He shows up day in and day out, is an integral part of the team but, most importantly, he leads from the front. Decisions are debated but once decided we go forward together. Thank you for that leadership, Hap, this was a hard-earned win and a long time coming! From Porto Cervo we switched gears to the first AC test event in Villanova, Spain. My first impressions… when there is wind the racing
SEAHORSE 13
INGRID ABERY
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