MERLIN ROCKET BOAT NAMES

Boat Names (395)

Do you have more information to add?
We would love to hear it so that the database keeps growing.
To add the thinking behind your boat name - amend an entry - add a photograph - suggest website links - correct a typo please email:- [email protected]

Latest additions to the list

20.04.23  -   3782 amended : 3809 & 3820 added
24.04.23  -   1572 added
10.07.23  -   3700 amended
26.09.23  -   3792 added
29.10.23  -   578 : 1313 added
01.11.23  -   3506 picture added  :  3816 & 3817 added
16.12.23  -   3641: 3694 : 3734 : 3770 : 3795 added
15.01.24  -   2933 & 3093 added

Hull #:
Boat Name:
12345678910
#Boat NameOriginal Owners(s) / CrewEtymology
[Person supplying information]
3506
Smarty Pants
Patrick Blake
When Patrick came to order this boat, a Canterbury Tales or Let it Ride seemed to be the option. However, he wanted something different. He went to Laurie Smart and they studied the drawing of the current boats to come up with a new derivative that they considered would beat all. Most of the ideas came from Laurie so 'Smarty Pants' as in 'how clever' but there could be another interpretation. (see 3620)
[Patrick Blake]
The graphics on the boat in 2023. Not the original.
[Peter Male]
3508
Red Dragon
Phil Emery
This was a book that was the prequel to Silence of the Lambs
[Phil Emery]
3509
Dingbat
Dick Batt
Again, the bat bit is easy, maybe Dick enjoyed this early 90’s board game?
3511
Heaven Sent
Alasdair Evans
Andrew Mills advises that the story he had about Heaven Sent came from Judith Massey and corroborated by Rob O'Toole, who sailed the boat in her 1st championships.
 
Alasdair Evans came into a pretty large inheritance and went to Jon Turner, who was turning out foam sandwich CT's at the time for somewhere north of £13,000. He requested him to design and build the best Merlin he could, money no object. The bill was quite large, and the boat was known colloquially as"Evans spent"

[Andrew Mills]
3512
Flying Cloud
Peter Chester
It is understood that the name relates to the clipper ship that set the world's sailing record for the fastest passage between New York and San Francisco. The ship held this record for over 100 years.
It follows on the theme from a previous boat (3483 - Cloud 9)

[Peter Male]
3513
Pipistrelle
Dick Batt
Following the theme from his previous boats - another species of bat.
[Chris Martin]
Re-named:-
Sticky Fingers
Re-named by:-
Nick "Boris" Heginbotham

[Chris Martin]
3515
Slap & Tickle
Phil & Paula Mason
Named after a track on the 1979 'Cool For Cats' album by Squeeze. Musical taste and influence had moved onto a retro stage. The new boat coincided with getting engaged in 1994. The track was a ballad about a couple getting together. It seemed to just fit in a light hearted way if not romantically ... and included the lyric ... "Never chew a pickle with a little Slap Tickle!"
[Phil & Paula Mason]
3517
Shooting Tsar
Graham Williamson & Nick Yeoman
A follow on from Rising Tsar (3408) - continuing the red/Russian theme and the next step along the way.
[Graham Willianson]
3518
Smoked Salmon
Duncan Salmon
Rather self indulgently, named after its eponymous first owner.
[Duncan Salmon]
3519
The Newark Eel
L. Ross

[Mike Liggett]
Brain Salad Surgery
Album by Emerson, Lake & Palmer

[Peter Richards]
3529
Pass the Parrot
Alan Jackson
The term came from an over active workshop phone.
[Alan Jackson]
3530
Sir Topaz
Mike Colles
Mike bought the bare hull - a Canterbury Tales. Chauser's Sir Topaz was also unfinished. Sir Topaz was portrayed as a great hunter.
[Mike Colles]
3531
S Monk
Not named by original owner.
[1996 Year Book]
NV
Steve Watson
Before purchasing this boat, Steve and his son Tobi sailed a NSM IV that was a rather questionable shade of green. As a result, Steve and Tobi were known as Team Green at Midland SC.
The new boat was therefore called NV - which stands for Nouveau vert (French) or Nuovo verdi (Italian) - and means “new green”. The new boat was blue and yellow, which when mixed together makes green. Or was there a sense of being green (team) with NV (envy).

[Steve Watson]
3534
Valley Freight
John Dalby
This boat, designed & built by John, was supposed to be the first of a line, all to include the noun Valley (John was a member of Trent Valley SC.) To manage peoples expectation, in case it was not a rocket ship, John thought of Freight to acknowledge the nearby railway. The next would have been Valley Express - but it did not arrive.
[Andy Dalby]
3535
An Bradan Fease
Colin Brockbank
The name is related to Irish mythology. A tale about a 'Salmon of knowledge' - a fish that has gained all the world's knowledge and this is passed to the first person that eats the flesh.
[Colin Brockbank]
3536
Blazing Saddles
S. Wragg

[Paul Hollis]
Renamed:-
Mine's a Double
Renamed by:-
Paul Hollis
When Paul purchased this boat he had just become the licensee of the Needlemakers Arms at Studley (see 3610)
[Paul Hollis]
3539
Gangsta Paradise
Phil King
Named after Kevin Driver, the boat's builder who at the time wore dark clothes and black hats, and the (almost) eponymous song by American rapper Coolio.
[Phil King]
3540
Cheers Easy
G. Forshaw

[Chris Martin]
Re-named:-
M&M's
Re-named by:-
Mike Allen & Mark Archer
Not only a reference to Mike & Mark.  -   M&M's are also a chocolate confectionery coated with hard candy shell
 

[Chris Martin]
3546
Gilt Complex
Will Rainey
Following on the theme from Sterling Crisis (3505), Will's next new boat was a simple play on words. The quickest boat he ever had.
[Will Rainey]
3547
Moondance Assasin
Mark Barnes
The name and colour scheme comes from the rave/drugs culture. Having been sailing new high speed designs for the previous 10 years, Mark came up with the concept that one must be on drugs to spend such a large amount of money on a 14 ft. wooden boat. The name comes from the Moondance Rave (Funky - still going strong in 2015) and Assasin (instead of Assassin) as in high as a kite. The yellow inside reflects a bad trip and outside the calming of the blues / Van Morrison, from where/who the Moondance Rave takes it name.
[Mark Barnes]
3548
Tam htab
Tony Larder
This photograph has not been reversed
[Kieron Mason]
Re-named:-
Firestarter
Renamed by:-
Kieron Mason
Kieron had been inspired by 3549 - Unfinished Business - and was looking to move up from an old Phantom Kipper. When 3548 came on the market he seized the opportunity. The quick refurb turned into a fairly long one over the winter with many cups of tea and of course music playing . The original name and graphics went with the sandings and was replaced with the 'Firestarter' – a track by The Prodigy. It had been played a thousand times during the refurb and seemed appropriate as the anticipation of getting the ‘new’ boat on the water grew. Kieron wasn’t disappointed as the boat repaid the hard work with some sublime moments.
[Kieron Mason]
3549
Unfinished Business
Mike Calvert
Having ordered the boat, the delivery was longer than anticipated. Mike's request for progress reports indicated that it was not finished. The expression 'unfinished business' evloved over a period of time.
[Mike Calvert]
3550
She's a Cracker
Tony Johnson
The farther of Tony's crew (Robert Smith) had a boat called 'Cracker' and Tony liked the name. Furthermore, the boat looked good.
[Tony Johnson]
3554
Stud Muffin
Julian Parry
Nothing more to it other than Julian liked the name.

[Julian Parry]
3556
Make it so
Lawrie Smart
'Make it so' was an expression used by Admiral Lord Nelson, who would go on deck, give an order to an officer and culminate with 'make it so'. Lawrie copied this style by using the expression when giving instructions to his assistant.
[Lawrie Smart]
3557
Out of the Blue 2
Guy Winder
Although sail numbers do not show this - Out of the Blue 2 was the first Winder foam sandwich boat out of the mold - just out of the blue.
[David Winder]
3560
Luka
Named by the boatbuilder, Steve Neal, after his favourite Suzanne Vega song, released as a single in 1987.
[Ollie]
3561
Snorting
John Cooper
A carry over from Captain Snort (2710)
[John Cooper]
3565
Spotted Dick
Dick Batt

Re-named:-
Scallywag
Renamed by:-
Andy Bownes
Andy did not like the idea of being 'associated' with Spotted Dick. Scallywag was the nickname used by Andy's father and the name was chosen in his memory.
[Andy Bownes]
3569
Time Zulu
Graham Williamson & Nick Yeoman
Time Zulu is zero hour - the time from which all other times are measured - as happens when winning races. Following Nick's untimely death after sailing the boat only once, John Bell acquired his share, and the name proved fortuitous as the boat won the nationals at the first time of asking (2000).
[Graham Willianson]
3570
Second Thought
Chris Rathbone
Chris was carrying on a theme from his previous boat. (3451)
[Chris Rathbone]
3571
Hakuna Matata
Andy Jones
Andy took his three children to see The Lion King. The song took their imagination.
Hakuna matata is a Swahili phrase; roughly translated, it means "no worries".

[Andy Jones]
3573
Rong Number
Paul Davies
The builder carved the wrong number in the hog.
[Paul Hollis]
3574
Holy Grail
Hywel Bowen Perkins
Merlin > Wizard > King Arthur > the Holy Grail.
[Hywel Bowen Perkins]
3575
Gavadlax
Duncan Salmon
Following the theme - (see 3518) - this boat was one of the first wave of Winder CTs, wonderfully built and engineered but lacking the mahogany fore and side decks and sycamore gunwales -  so called Gravadlax , almost smoked salmon but not quite the same.
[Duncan Salmon]
3580
Chambulls
William Warren
Chambulls was William's first new boat. A popular drink at the time which seemed to sum up his shambolic sailing.
[William Warren]
3581
Prologue
Mike Anslow
The boat is a Canterbury Tales and Mike was looking for a name with a literary connection.
[Mike Anslow]
3582
Never been to Salcombe
Richard Estaugh
Although Richard was a regular competitor on the Open Circuit, at the time the boat was purchased (2000) he had never been to Salcombe. Since then the boat has been to Salcombe and is now known as NBTS.
[Peter Male]
3583
Kind of Blue
John Andrews
Kind of Blue is a reference to a Jazz record - arguably the most significant in the world of jazz
[Robert Grew]
Re-named:-
Back to the Future
Renamed by:- 
Chris Martin
Chris sold a Winder boat 3602, to buy a wooden boat 3543. After three years he sold 3543 and bought 3583, obviously another Winder - moving Back to the Future. (The name given to a trilogy of Sci-fi films)
[Chris Martin]
3585
After Hours
Glenn Truswell
A hull by Tony Locke, fitted out by Glenn working on it after hours at work.
 

[Graham Willianson]
The name in 2017 after the boat had been modified by John Fildes.
Do you have more information to add?
We would love to hear it so that the database keeps growing.
To add the thinking behind your boat name - amend an entry - add a photograph - suggest website links - correct a typo please email:- [email protected]

 

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