| # | Boat Name | Original Owners(s) / Crew | Etymology
[Person supplying information] |
|---|
| 3658 | Bernard | Chris Jennings | Did not like Re-entry so had to find another name.
Inspiration taken from the Blackadder series. A character called Nursey turned out to have the name Bernard. Chris started to use 'Bernard' for all things without a name! But - of course all boats are female.
[Chris Jennings] |
| 3659 | Zeno | Julian Parry | Zeno was a Greek philosopher - who had a 'hare & hound' theory (paradox) - if, in a race, you keep halving the distance between the hare & the tortoise then the hare never catches the tortoise. Like buying a new Merlin - by the time it is ordered built and fitted out you can never catch up with the latest developments.
[Julian Parry] |
| 3660 | djelibeybi | Will Raney | Will abandoned his Star Wars themes for this boat. Sir Terry Pratchett had published Pyramids, as part of his Discworld series, and 'djelibeybi' was a fictional middle eastern country in the story. As you would expect, djelibeybi was painted/sprayed a deep rich blackcurrent colour.
[Will Rainey] |
| 3662 | Attack of the Clones | David Winder | Although Will Rainey had moved away from the Star Wars theme for his new boat (3660), Dave was still a fan. The new boat was black, the same as 3611 and when it was taken out of the mold it looked just like a clone. Attack of the Clones was Star Wars: Episode 2.
[David Winder] |
| 3663 | Bronte | Chris Haworth | This relates to Chris's surname and the Bronte sisters who lived in Haworth, about 3 miles from where the boat was built.
 [Chris Haworth] |
| 3665 | Still Not Over | Matt Biggs & Dave Crockett | The earlier expectation (see 3617) that Dave would have to give up his sailing did not happen and they upgraded to a new boat.
[Matt Biggs] |
| 3666 | Enchanted Evening | Chris Lewns |
[Year Book] |
| Re-named:- ted | Re-named by:- John Meadowcroft | One of John's crew did not like the original name so some of the name was removed leaving the name as 'Enchanted'. This did not find favour for very long and the self adhesive name was 'attacked' again - removing 'E' - 'n' - 'c' . When the second 'n' had been removed a solution to the name problem had been found. The addition of the stripes finished the job.
 [John Meadowcroft] |
| 3667 | Last Gasp | David Bland | Purchased by David as his final Merlin.
[Paul Keeling] |
| 3672 | Bola Bola | John Cooper | This is Malay for one of his families favorite expletives - 'Balls' or more usually 'Bollocks'. John had served in the Malaysan Army.
[John Cooper]
 [John Cooper] |
| 3673 | The Oldie | Alan Warren | The inspiration came from the magazine "The Oldie"
[Alan Warren] |
| Re-named:-
Desperate Housewife | |
[Peter Male] |
| Returned to original name:-
The Oldie | Returned to original name by:-
Caroline Croft |
 [Caroline Croft] |
| 3674 | Autumn Gold | Mike Anslow | This was (planned) to be Mike's last new boat. The boat is 'yellow' to match the seasonal colour.
 [Mike Anslow] |
| 3676 | Hot Totty | Patrick Blake | Following the theme from previous boats (3506 - 3620 - 3640)
 [Patrick Blake] |
| 3677 | Indecision | David Proctor | A name to reflect upon the problems when trying to name a new boat.
 [David Proctor] |
| 3678 | Nora | Stu Bithell | Stu only owned the boat for about 3 months. It was his first real attempt to win the championships and the money to pay for it came from his grandmother who had just died. She was called Nora hence the boat was named after her.
[Steve Crook] |
| 3680 | Shaka Zulu | Steve Watson | Continuing a theme from a previous boat (3569 - Time Zulu). The boat that replaced Time Zulu was Time Lords. Therefore Steve continued with the Zulu theme.
Before moving to Birmingham, Steve worked in South Africa.
Shaka Zulu was the founder of the Zulu nation, based in Natal, South Africa, in the early 1800s.
He was a ruthless warrior and never lost a battle.
 [Steve Watson] |
| 3681 | Midnight Flight | Emma Flight (& Richard Bates | A double meaning on Emma here with romantic connotations for them.
[Graham Willianson] |
| 3683 | Bluebird | Tom Stewart | The boat was wedgwood blue.
[Ben Holitch] |
| 3684 | Keyser Soze | Andy Davis | From the film 'The Usual Suspects'. Keyser Soze is a 'crime lord' who is not to be 'messed with' - worse than the devil.
 [Andy Davis] |
| 3685 | The Black Pearl | William Warren | The boat was bought during the height of The Pirates of the Caribbean films, William's boys were of an age when pirates were fun and therefore it had to be 'The Black Pearl'.
 [William Warren] |
| 3686 | If | Paul Aldridge | After conversations at the bar - what if I buy a Merlin? - Only if you would.
 [Jeremy Deacon] |
| 3687 | Mellow Yellow | Alan Jackson | Alan was in a pretty laid back part of life.
[Alan Jackson] |
| 3688 | - | Not recorded | Not named by original owner.
|
| Who Dares Wins | Ben Hollis | Ben was a fan of the TV programme ' Only Fools & Horses' and the lead character - Del Boy (Derek Trotter) - used the phrase 'Who Dares Wins' on a regular basis. As a joke, Adam (Ben's brother), stuck the name on the boat whilst Ben was absent. It is also the motto of the SAS.
[Ben Hollis] |
| 3689 | Ticket to Ride | Hywel Bowen Perkins | Ticket to Ride - the boat design was a variant of a Let it Ride and the inspiration came from the Beatles song.
[Hywel Bowen Perkins] |
| 3690 | General Lee | Andy Dalby | This was the last desperate and wild act of a poor bloke about to tie the knot! Andy simply wanted to create the General Lee car from the Dukes of Hazard TV show. Dave Winder needed some persuasion and called Andy just before he made it to make sure! Andy thought it would stand out so he would definitely have to hold back on the start line instead of pushing it and getting OCS. It certainly worked!
 [Andy Dalby] |
| 3691 | Quick Fix | Mike Calvert | Mike had not being happy with his previous boat (3626) and was unsure which direction to pursue for the replacement. While thinking about the issues he needed a short term solution in which he could keep his winning ways - in other words a Quick Fix.
 [Mike Calvert] |
| 3693 | Slippery When Wet | Will Rainey | Bon Jovi was the inspiration for this choice. 'Slippery When Wet' was their third album and included tracks such as 'Living on a Prayer'. The real reason is the original album cover design (which was not used except in Japan).
[Will Rainey] |
| 3694 | The Soup Dragon | Steve Tyler |
 |
| 3697 | Too Dark and Stormy | Richard Page | A follow on from the previous boat (3619). Dark and Stormy II was not an option.
 [Richard Page] |
| 3700 | Brazilian | Phil Emery | Named after Phil Scolari, the Brazilian Chelsea FC manager, who was sacked soon after. A continuation of the Chelsea theme - (see 3608 & 3657)
[Phil Emery] |
| Renamed - Dumb & Dumber | Renamed by - Andrew Prosser | As reported by Andrew - The helm (Rob Kennaugh) is Dumb for sailing with me, and the Crew (Andrew) is even Dumber for sailing with him.
[Andrew Prosser] |
| 3702 | Salmon en Croute | Duncan Salmon | Following the theme - 3518; 3575; 3644 - Salmon en croute or crusty salmon - Duncan's 50th birthday present to himself!
 [Duncan Salmon] |
| 3703 | Faithless | Richard Whitworth | A continuation of the theme Richard used for a previous boat (3593). Faithless was the artist that sang the song 'Insomnia'
 [Richard Whitworth] |
| 3705 | 2 Pints of Lager | Matt Biggs | At the time Matt sailed with Rob Kennaugh and this was the typical request after sailing!
 [Matt Biggs] |
| 3706 | Monkey Puzzle | Kevin Anderson | Kevin was in business with Alex Jackson and they decided that they would have new Merlins so they ordered a pair of boats from Winder Boats. Initially the idea was that Kevin would call his boat ' Monkey Business' and Alex would use 'Slap the Monkey'. However, Kevin's wife was not in agreement and held the view that the boat name should relate to a tree or a plant - hence Monkey Puzzle.
 [Kevin Anderson] |
| 3707 | Monkey Business | Alex Jackson | See 3706 - Monkey Puzzle.
 [Kevin Anderson] |
| 3708 | Wicked | Rob Holroyd | A beautiful green which Rob considered 'wicked'. He also loved the musical (show)
[Rob Holroyd] |
| 3711 | Bad Wolf | Richard Bates | A reference to events in Dr Who.
[Dave Lee] |
| Re-named:-
Seawolf | Re-named by:-
Dave Lee | Dave wanted to change the name and he understood that nautical folklore allowed you to avoid bad luck by retaining part of the boats original name. At the time Dave had just finished reading the Patrick Robinson novel, Seawolf, and thought it seemed a better name.The novel is about an American submarine.
[Dave Lee] |
| Re-named:-
Sylvia | Re-named by:-
Sam Thompson | Sam named the boat in honour of his Grandmother. (Sylvia lived in Sutton Coldfield - West Midlands and it is a Royal Town. This status was granted by Henry Vlll and for over 500 years a tutor rose has been associated with the town. A close examination of the boat name shows that a tudor rose has been used for the dot over the 'i'.)
 [Sam Thompson] |
| 3712 | Oakey Dokey | Jon Gorringe | Jon previously had several boats (not Merlins) with names related to dragons. The family used a child entertainer who had a little green dragon which was called Oakey Dokey. It therefore followed Jon's theme.
[Jon Gorringe] |
| 3715 | Truly Scrumptious | Paul Rayson | Paul wanted a name that reflected the beauty and appeal of the boat as well as following a theme, characters from musicals. After much family debate they settled on Truly Scrumptious, the character from the film and stage production of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. So far the theme has continued with our inflatable (used to get to Millbay in Salcombe) being named Jemima after the daughter in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.
 [Paul Rayson] |
| 3716 | Carbon Footprint | Steve Leney | Following on the theme from his previous boat (3639) - Carbon footprint was a new 'buzz word' for the era.
 [Steve Leney] |
| 3719 | Fluffbum Babylove | Nick Barnes | Believed to be the pet names for original owner and crew.
 [annon] |
| Re-named:-
Fluff 'n' Stuff | Renamed by:-
Jeremy Deacon | An abbreviation on the original name to avoid the bad luck associated with changing the name of a vessel.
 [Jeremy Deacon] |
| 3727 | Fragile | Tim Fells | The boat was ordered from a hospital bed the morning after a back operation. Fragile is another track from an album by 'Yes'. Continuing a theme from a previous boat - 2737.
[Tim Fells] |
| 3728 | Volski Queen | Judith Massey | Continuing with the theme of warrior queens (3592 & 3653), this boat was named after Camilla, queen of the Volski, who was rumoured to be able to run on water.. Jude just couldn't call a boat Camilla....
[Graham Willianson] |
