Mariquita Book - mk2.5

DIARY ENTRY
The world of yachting is cyclical and seasonal. You’re racing or you’re varnishing. You’re on a ‘transat’ or you’re flying to your next programme. You’re doing a Pacific season.
You’re doing a Med season. You might even try some time in the States. You can stay on a boat for a while, but nine times out of 10 you’ll eventually move on while the boat
remains. This normally happens at a staggered pace as people’s lives continue to revolve in an orbit around the vessel. However, every now and then your crewmates move on
in the same stride. It’s happened before in Mariquita’s past: The Fife Regatta in 2008 was a bookend for many, and at year’s end we said goodbye to many close friends. We’ve
reached another bookend here on board in 2014 and again we must see off so many more.
We’re lucky in that we work with amazing people on Mariquita, so to watch this group go back off into the world is heartening: You know they’re going to do fantastic things
in places all over the globe. But you do miss the idiosyncrasies they bring to the table, how a crew falls into place like pieces of a puzzle. You can get new pieces, but it will be
an entirely different puzzle.
To those who have moved on: It has been our very great privilege to sail this boat with you lot. You can get the best racers in the world on the deck of the fastest yacht, but if
they don’t know how to crack a joke at the day’s end, what’s the point? So thank you for cracking jokes. We hope you’ll come back and grab hold of the main halyards again,
and sing out loud with the shanty. Now haul away you rolling kings. M.O.
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