Mariquita Book - mk2.5

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