SAILING MARIETTE
“Let’s get the rags up,” comes the call from Charlie Wroe. The sun is shining and there is a light southerly breeze off Cannes. I am on board the magnificent Mariette of 1915 which is just about to take part in her first race for over a year, following a major refit at Pendennis Shipyard and an extended cruise to Norway and Scotland, at Regates Royales. Twenty-four crew are poised and ready for action.
Mariette was designed as a gaff schooner by Nathaniel Herreshoff and built in steel by the Herreshoff Manufacturing Company. In 1949 her rig was converted to an easier bermudan staysail configuration but in 1994, when Tom Perkins bought her, the original rig was restored. She has been raced hard ever since, firstly by Perkins, then by her current owner who bought her in 2005 soon after Charlie became her captain. The “rags” Charlie refers to are numerous. I once overheard Perkins make a passing remark – which I am sure was not intended to be in any way disrespectful – about the J-Class sailing with just two sails while Mariette sets as many as eight simultaneously.
has eight permanent crew who can easily sail the boat when she is cruising, but 24 is a good number for racing. “About half of the extra crew are professional sailors,” Charlie tells me, “while the rest can be a mixture of friends, family, maybe youngsters off the dock; people who don’t have the same level of experience as the regulars.” From the moment we start readying the
