| # | Boat Name | Original Owners(s) / Crew | Etymology
[Person supplying information] |
|---|
| 3317 | Shared Affair | Patrick Blake and Roger Taylor | See 3283 'Family Affair' - it was time to update - so a continuation of the theme.
[Patrick Blake] |
| 3330 | Nice Legs | I Holt | A 1980's pop song which also included the words " shame about the face"
[Peter Richards] |
| 3338 | Uptown Girl | Nick Aubrey | A Billy Joel hit from the period which includes the punchline “I’m
going to win”. A very classy lady. Since taken out by (to quote the
lyrics again) some ‘backstreet guys’ and ‘downtown men’
[Geoff Wright] |
| 3339 | The Flame | Peter Scott | Once the paint was chosen - the name became self evident.
 [Peter Scott] |
| 3341 | Avalanche | |
 |
| 3344 | Die Fledermaus | Dick Bat | Die Fledermaus - german for The Bat
[Chris Martin] |
| 3348 | Wasp | Jerry Rook and Dan Alsop | A follow on from Asp (2994) - Wasp = "Wasn't All Scrounged Parts"
[Dan Alsop] |
| 3353 | Master Blaster | Richard Whitworth | Having picked the boat up, on turning a sharp corner Richard managed to pass a lamp post with the car to one side and the mast on the other. 'Blasting' the mast. Also a song by Steve Wonder.
[Richard Whitworth] |
| 3354 | Desiree | Chris Rathbone | Everyone thought that she was a New Potato design but in fact she was an NSM2. The name came from a character in a musical called “A Little Night Music"
[Chris Rathbone] |
| 3367 | Bad Attitude | Tim Bird | Tim named the boat after a Meetloaf album that he liked at the time.
[Tim Bird] |
| 3368 | Debutante | W & W Wright | The design is an 'Uptown girl' so the name speaks for itself
 [Jeremy Deacon] |
| 3372 | Diamond Smiles | Ian Holt | Diamond Smiles was a song on a Boom Town Rats album.
[Broz (via Forum) / Mike Liggett] |
| 3389 | White Whale | Phil King | White Whale arose because of the shock of seeing a gleaming white lump trestled up on the concrete in the Easter sunshine of Spud's yard. There was a distinct sense of betrayal about the way the boat was made (melamine coated ply painted white). However it was meant to be a functional racing boat, not a piece of furniture. Phil joked that it looked like a white whale, and that seemed a good enough name. Phil hoped it would be suitably ironic for a fast boat.
[Phil King] |
| 3392 | Flighty | J. Docherty |
[1988 Year Book] |
| Re-named:-
Mithrandir | Re-named by:-
N. Brinn
| In J. R. R. Tolkien's 'Lord of the Rings' there is a wizard called Gandalf and he has many nick-names. One of these is 'Mithrandir'. In the story, Sindarin is the everyday language of Elves and in this language 'Mithrandir' means grey pilgrim. The boat was grey.
[Chris Martin] |
| 3394 | Who's a Pretty Boy | Alan Jackson | The hull ended up being painted a soft pink. You can't turn up on the start line with a pink boat called Bruce.
[Alan Jackson] |
| Re-named:-
Bandelero | Re-named by:-
M. Candelas | Mark's first Merlin but fancied neither the name nor colour (re-painted pale blue) and being half Spanish thought 'Bandolero', (Spanish for Highwayman)
sounded good. A namesake of Mark was, Luis Candelas, Spain's most
notorious highwayman (the Spanish 'Dick Turpin').
[M Candelas] |
| 3398 | Out of the Blue | Brian Drake | Out of the Blue was named after the immensely successful album by the Electric Light Orchestra.
[Graham Willianson] |
| 3400 | Dangerbat | Dick Batt | The bat reference is obvious - Dangermouse was a popular children’s cartoon in the mid 80’s, could be a connection.
[Chris Martin] |
| 3403 | The Refrigerator | Peter Scott | This was sister ship to the 'White Whale' (3389) so the word play was on the white goods angle. At the same time there was an American Footballer of some girth (and speed) named William Perry whose nickname was 'The Refrigerator' - for some reason this was Peter's nickname in the hockey team for which he played!! ( Also known as the bulk of the team!!)
[Peter Scott] |
| 3407 | No limits | Steve Leney | When buildiging the boat, Steve's objective was to view only 7 planks for the hull and use the 8th plank to create a complete half barrel in planks. In order to do this the design had to be based on the maximum exposed limit, a phrase in the rule book at the time which hounded Steve.
[Steve Leney] |
| 3408 | Dynabyte | Shaun Frohlich |
|
| Re-named:-
Rising Tsar | Renamed by:-
Graham Williamson & Nick Yeoman | Red was the preferred colour of the weaponry for this duo, and the name is a play on the russian link, and their climb towards stardom and the 1993 nationals which they lost on countback.
[Graham Willianson] |
| 3431 | Charge of the Light Brigade | Mike Lennon (& Kevin Driver) | At a time when the perceived wisdom was that 24 stone was needed for successful Merlin sailing, Mike & Kevin weighed in at around 19 stone, unshaven, dressed and wet! Hence the allusion to the famous attack by lightly armed soldiers taking on the heavy guns.
[Graham Willianson] |
| 3434 | Love Over Gold | Bruce Mager | Named after album by Dire Straits
[Patricia James] |
| 3438 | Simple Minds | Phil Emery | Phil was sailing with David Hawkins so no explanation needed!
[Phil Emery] |
| 3439 | Nessie | Colin Brockbank | A reference to Colin's ancestry.
[Colin Brockbank] |
| 3442 | Armed Forces | J Lewis | A well known album by Elvis Costello.
[Chris Martin] |
| 3451 | Deep Thought | Chris Rathbone | The design was a 42 and the name came courtesy of the Taylor's and the Blake's via the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. (Chris thinks it was mainly Debbie's idea.) The current colour isn’t what Chris envisaged as “a highly intelligent shade of blue”- which was a darker blue than the current shade.
[Chris Rathbone] |
| 3459 | About time | Alan Jackson | A boat builder building his own boat, plus a long lead time.
[Alan Jackson] |
| 3463 | Sulaco | G. O''Neil |
[Mike Liggett] |
| Re-named:-
Smoke Over Water | Re-named by:-
R.Waller |
[Mike Liggett] |
| Re-named:-
Smoke on the Water | Re-named by:-
Peter Walker | A song on the Deep Purple album Machine Head (1972). The inspiration was from a major fire at the casino in Montreux with the smoke spreading over Lake Geneva. The group were in Montreux for the recording.
 [Mike Liggett] |
| 3466 | Thunderclap | John Cooper | Name chosen by John's family with reference to an incident in Chaucer's Millers Tales, when a character stuck his bum out of a window and farted like a hunderclappe. (The boat is a Canterbury Tales)
[John Cooper] |
| 3467 | Twice Shy | Alan Warren | Named as a follow-on to Once Bitten (3355) - a boat already owned by the Warren family
[William Warren] |
| 3470 | Roaring Forties | George Dalby | The boat is a Phil Morrison '42' design and George was in his 40's when he built it.
[Andy Dalby] |
| 3471 | Savage | Phil King | Named after the Annie Lennox album, my wife's haircuts (also in the style of Annie Lennox) and the perceived attitude needed to win a championship.
[Phil King] |
| 3474 | Skimbleshanks | Tony Johnson | Tony's daughter, Louise, had just started sailing when she went to see the musical 'Cats'. This was followed by a school poem project and the subject was 'Skimbleshanks' the railway cat.
[Tony Johnson] |
| 3476 | Tales of Marco Polo | Geoffrey Cox | The boat was commissioned by Geoffrey Cox when the issue of new Merlin numbers was approaching those of his childhood Cadet - Marco Polo CK 3476. Geoff took a keen interest in the appearance of the boat during construction and spent much time making sure that it was going to be a really beautiful boat.
[Kieron Mason] |
| 3477 | Rebel Yell | Rob Radbourne | The boat was built by Rob using the first Jon Turner foam sandwich shell which had come out a bit heavy for Jon to use. It was therefore ideal for using Rob's idea of using a spaceframe to take the loads. The half foredeck was to save weight as it didn't need a full one for stiffness.
The name derived from a variety of sources - a song by Billy Idol - the design being a bit rebellious (the space frame) and the rebell yell ( yee-haw) Rob & his son Jay tended to do when screaming off on a planing reach.
[Rob Radbourne] |
| 3482 | Heavy Artillery | C. Powell | N. K.
|
| Re-maned :- Heavy Particle | Re-named by:- Richard Burton | When Richard bought the boat, he was uneasy about the 'aggressive' name. He was aware of the idea that the name of a boat should not be changed. Whist removing the original name the compromise became apparent.
 [Richard Burton] |
| 3486 | The Quickenings | John Harris | Believed to be a reference to the film Highlander. The lead cast member of the television series, Adrian Paul, explained, "The Quickening is the receiving of all the power and knowledge another immortal has obtained throughout his/her life. It is like the receiving of a sacrament or a massive orgasm".
[Chris Martin / Mike Liggett] |
| 3490 | Wing and a Prayer | Peter Scott | This was a brand new Phil Morrison design that (hopefully) would be a good weight carrier. (See 3403) It was and this was the 'prayer' element of the name. When the boat was first launched it was rigged with a wing mast that was the same section as used on the Tornado catamaran - a failed experiment - but gave the 'wing' element to the name
The design became known as 'Thin Ice'.
[Peter Scott] |
| 3496 | Seren Y Mor | H. & W. A. Wright | Henry & Walter, who sailed at Bala, had a long tradition of giving their boats welsh names. Seren Y mor is welsh for Sea star. (also see 3200)
[Chris Martin] |
| Re-named:-
Smokin' | Re-named by:-
Steve Essex | Possibly a reference to the film “The Mask”
[Chris Martin] |
| 3498 | Wizard of Odd | Julian Parry | play of the epic "Wizard of Oz". This was an 'odd' boat - a Thin Ice design but without a thwart - which was unusual for a Rowsell boat.
[Julian Parry] |
| 3501 | Empi | Jamie Seymour | Named by Jamie after an elbow move in the martial art of Tomari-te.
[Graham Willianson] |
| 3502 | Shindig | Alan Markham | Alan had previous boats (not Merlins) called 'Shambles' (GP14) and 'Shemozzle' (Moth). The boat name continued the 'Sh...' theme with the word having a meaning of "having a party or having a ball". Furthermore, the family of Sue (his wife & crew) were fans of folk dancing.
[Alan Markham] |
| 3505 | Sterling Crisis | Will Rainey | 18 years on from The Red Baron (2865), on the 16th September 1992 (Black Wednesday), as Britain saw interest rates hit 15% before deciding to leave the Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM), Will thought - sod it - it is time for a new boat. So Sterling Crisis it was.
[Will Rainey] |
