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MONACO CLASSIC WEEK<br />
11 – 15 SEPTEMBER 2013<br />
A week-long extravaganza with period motor yachts,<br />
super-charged Rivas, classic yachts including the entire<br />
15-Metre fleet, all set against the magnificent back drop<br />
of the Principality.<br />
Organised by the Yacht Club de Monaco,<br />
this event reflects Monaco’s great maritime<br />
heritage from the first sailing regattas held<br />
here in 1862, to the pioneering motorboat<br />
meetings of the early<br />
20th century. With 12<br />
Big Boats in her class<br />
<strong>Mariquita</strong> was in good<br />
company with the likes<br />
of Cambria, Lulworth,<br />
Altair and Atlantic on<br />
the start line. As Monaco<br />
Classic Week falls late<br />
in the season the regatta<br />
can be affected by light sea breezes. With<br />
slack low pressure in the Gulf of Genoa,<br />
weak and unpredictable sea breezes were<br />
the order of the day. After controlling the<br />
line at the start of the first race, <strong>Mariquita</strong><br />
got away first and maintained that position<br />
until the very last downwind mark where she<br />
was forced to gybe by changing conditions.<br />
“Pretty dramatic!” was how owner Stephen<br />
Hemsley summed it up. “A lot of the<br />
mainsheet twisting and leaping around the<br />
aft deck. Unfortunately we dropped back<br />
and were second over the<br />
line by about 30 seconds<br />
which was a shame.”<br />
Despite this early setback<br />
to the week, local boy<br />
and tactician Patrice<br />
Clerc certainly made<br />
the most of the fitful sea<br />
breezes and <strong>Mariquita</strong><br />
secured her sixth podium<br />
of the season, only losing out to Elena and<br />
Moonbeam III, to come a creditable third.<br />
On the final day of the regatta, crew member<br />
and birthday girl, Robyn Whitman, in great<br />
<strong>Mariquita</strong> tradition, was thrown into the<br />
harbour only to be saved by a gallant and<br />
good-looking sailor from Moonbeam III.<br />
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