Bella Mente Nips NYYC Trophy In Anniversary Regatta Win
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Hamilton, Bermuda: Hap Fauth's Reichel/Pugh 69 Bella Mente took the top individual prize today in the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club Anniversary Regatta. Fauth (Minneapolis, MN) had a battle on his hands from start to finish in both races with class 1 British rival Ran, a hot JV 72 sailed by Niklas Zennstrom, and from the Newport Bermuda Race St. Davis's Lighthouse winner Carina sailed by Rives Potts (Westbrook, CT).
Fauth took first place with a 2-1 for a 3 point score, Potts had a 1-3 for 4 points and Zennstrom was third with 3-2 for 5 points. Fauth and crew have won the New York Yacht Club Trophy for the top boat in this 2-race regatta.
The RBYC Anniversary Regatta is the third event of the Onion Patch Series. The series began with racing in the 156th New York Yacht Club Annual Regatta presented by Rolex on June 13-14 in Newport Rhode Island, included the Newport Bermuda Race that started June 18th from Newport, and concluded today in a brilliant finish off the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club Marina in Hamilton Harbour.
Ran takes Onion Patch Series with better Newport Bermuda score
Ran was the individual winner of the Onion Patch Series in results posted today . Niklas Zennstrom scored 2-1 in the New York YC Regatta, 10 in the Newport Bermuda Race. and 3-2 in the RBYC Anniversary Regatta for a total of 18 points and wins the Henry B. du Pont Trophy for the best scoring individual yacht participating in the series.
Bella Mente came second with 1-2-13.75-2-1 and was only 1.75 out of 1st place with 19.75 total points. Third place went to Newport's Clayton Deutsch and his Ker 55 Sforzando with 26.5 total points in the subset of boats entered in the Onion Patch Series.
Five 3-boat teams were formed to compete for the Onion Patch Trophy. Coming first was the New York Yacht club team of Sforzando, Rambler sailed by George David (Hartford. CT) and Bella Mente. The Naval Academy Sailing Squadron... Flirt, Swift and Invictus... came second. The Storm Trysail Club Red Team... Carina, High Noon and Gold Digger... was third.
The Catherine Hollis Memorial Trophy goes to Carina the yacht entered in the Onion Patch Series that had the lowest corrected time in the Newport Bermuda Race. -- Talbot Wilson

Not sure I can add too much here. For sure it was two fun races and the lead from Ran and Bella changed offten. Very close. The first race we tied on corrected time. Can't get much closer than that. We boat look forward to the next race, Copa Del Rey the first week of August. The boats are sharing a ship right now to Spain. Look for more lose races there.

Dee Smith