Mariquita Book - mk2.5

TUBBY BROOK
Mainsheetman
My apprenticeship on Mariquita started in Mahón
2006 – No. 2 jib. Hot. Blue water sailing. Free food.
Free drinks every evening. Potentially very dangerous.
No. 2 jib also means second on the bowsprit. Plus No.
12 mainsheet or ‘spare hand’ if you were busy 96 feet
away from the cockpit changing headsails, staysails or
jib topsails.
I thought I was the cat’s whiskers when I joined
Mariquita in 2006. Maybe I am the ‘cat’s paws’ on
a Melges 24, a Sparkman and Stephens 36, or even
a Royal Burnham One Design. None of that really
prepares you for a jackyard hoist, or a 45 minute reef
on a 96 ft, 80 tonne William Fife gaff cutter.
Back to Minorca. A glorious finish. Through the narrow
Mahón harbour entrance, and then a balloon spinnaker
hoist from the bowsprit to the finish. Followed by a
handbrake turn in front of the yacht club: drop the jib
topsail, tack away, back the staysail, drop the jackyard
and standby to drop the mainsail. What a baptism!
Now it was as clear as a bell why all that training, all
those de-briefings had been necessary. Once you can do
the task in daylight in light airs, you can do it in the
dark in a seaway and do it with confidence.
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