Mariquita Book - mk2

DAVID BEDFORD
Tactician
Cannes was the deciding regatta of the season. By
then we had a good understanding of Mariquita’s
strengths and weaknesses relative to our rivals.
With dissimilar yachts there will be some courses
and wind conditions that will favour a particular
boat. Over a season some races will be easy wins (if
there is such a thing) while others will be almost
impossible to win. In between there
will be the races where you have a
chance. As the season progressed
we realised we had to do more to
win in Mariquita. If we performed
at the same level as our primary
rival Moonbeam IV we would
lose. Put another way we had to be
significantly better to win. A good
example was the second race at
Cannes.
The first leg of the course was a
short windward leg to a starboard
rounding windward mark in
around 10 knots of breeze.
Mariquita started well and stayed to the right of
Moonbeam IV. On the first beat the boats met at
the windward mark with Mariquita on starboard
tack forcing Moonbeam IV to tack to give way.
The result was only one tack for Mariquita and
two for Moonbeam IV – a loss of 90 secs for Mik
and his crew. Victory 1.
Leg 3 was downwind on port gybe. Mariquita’s
balloon jib (spinnaker) has a limited range of wind
angles. To counter this we sailed on port gybe with
the spinnaker set with the pole as far forward as
we dared. Essentially letting the boat go where it
wanted to go but crucially very swiftly. This kept
the boat fast but our course initially 18 degrees
below the leeward mark. We reasoned that as we
got closer, the wind blowing parallel to the coast
would lift us up towards the mark. Thankfully
our hunch paid off. Surprised and unnerved by
our new tactics, Moonbeam IV got greedy and
elected to fly their large running spinnaker which
took them even lower than our
course, perhaps by as much as
12 degrees. In the final analysis
Mariquita flew her spinnaker
for the whole leg at a faster
angle while Moonbeam IV
went unacceptably low leading
her to drop her kite and sail the
final quarter of the leg without
a spinnaker. Victory 2.
The final leg was upwind along
the rocky coast on the western
side of the Bay of Cannes.
With some difficult and brave
navigation by Chris Tibbs we
extended our lead. Chris picked a layline around
the headland but then inside some rocks. We
effectively cut a huge corner. After the headland it
was a simple fetch to the finish. Victory 3.
Despite three significant victories during the race,
when the handicaps were worked out, Mariquita
only beat Moonbeam IV by nine seconds. In many
ways this race represents the different level of skill,
teamwork and achievement required for Mariquita
to win. The fact that Moonbeam IV nearly won
despite a mistake or two on their part illustrates
how hard fought and deserved Mariquita’s victories
were in 2014.
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