Mariquita Book - mk2.5

DIARY ENTRY
Argentario was the first sign that winning was a real possibility. Bolstered by another win at Mahón, and the near miss in Imperia, we knew it was all to play for here in Cannes, with the Régates Royales. A first place
at the regatta was secondary to the overall win, so you can imagine how stoked we were when we managed to get both.
Cannes is an exhausting regatta. It’s five straight days of racing, led by a training day. Now if you haven’t raced aboard a big classic, it doesn’t sound like much. But when you consider that four hours of your day is setup
and pack down alone, on top of your hours in pre-start and race time, it adds up. So it’s important to pace yourself through the week. The courses are well laid, but it means countless peels, kite hoists and re-hoists, and
changing conditions. We joke that Cannes can show you all four seasons in one regatta, and the prediction’s rarely far off. In 2007, we received several inches of large hail on deck in the span of five minutes, culminating
with a lightning strike which travelled down our halyards and jumped to our bowman Natty Lemieux. The day after was sunny, light and variable. M.O.
191