Unfortunately we broke our mast at Hayling yesterday, so this is a request for any one that may have a a spare mast that they can loan us for a short while until we get sorted out.

Alan...I have a spare mast...it is aluminium..

Is it it a fairly recent, and deck stepped size? Which Mike are you? e-mail me.

Thanks

Mervyn still has the ally one that originally came with Heaven Sent and I sold him with Elusive.  It was in pretty good nick

Andrew

We have 2 spare deck stepped Ali M1 masts here, you are welcome to borrow one if you like.

Of course what we really want to know is how you broke it in the 1st place ;->  The Germans may have no word for fluffy but we have none for Schadenfreude

Andrew,

Simple realy, just pick a spot that is approximately the depth of the mast lenght, capsize, turtle the boat and then let the swell pound it on the  gravel based sea floor. I know it is gravel based as we collected a good core sample on the mast tip.

However this is proof that this is truly a friendly class, as we have been offered so many masts we will need to arrange a beauty parade :-)
Including people offering masts that they don't even own (Andrew).

We will get back to those who have offered once we get our selves organised.

I turtled on Saturday too - thought Merlins never did that? Or was I just too slow on the board!

I have found it quite easy to turtle a Merlin - you just need to capsize with a good roll on rather than the usual flop.  Windward capsizes on the run are favourite, as the rudder stalls and you flip over tripping over the board as you go you end up underneath the boat with no chance of getting on the board, but another good one is to just let go of the mainsheet on a breezy day thinking you have cleated it.  Very straightforward and easy to do :~>

It doesnt really make a difference if you are too slow to get onto the board, because i jumped over the top onto the board really quickly and it still turtled...but im guessing that might be because you are heavier than me. I found it really hard being on the board on sat, as the waves were knockin me about!

Tell me about it, could hardly keep my footing, let alone lean back!

Top tip:

Put non-slip paint on your board, that way you don't fall off so easily :)