Perhaps not the right place to enquire!!!!????

I need to get a boat down from Shustoke SC to Haywards Heath, West Sussex. The boat only comes with a launch trolley and I no longer have a road base.

Does anyone know of a firm that offers a delivery service i.e. pick boat up and deliver?

or....


is anyone planning on coming down South from Shustoke in the next week or so that would kindly bring the boat down for me, obviously for a fee??

Help would be appreciated. 

I would aslo admit the boat in question is a Solo!! So I will accept the inevitable kicking!!

Many thanks


Richard Battey

What a shame to go from a lovely boat like Terrabyte to a slowlo!

ere we go!!!

You are absolutely right 3550, although needs must and Terrabyte was not getting the use she deserves due to family commitment. Two extremely nice gentlemen from Wembley SC now own her, where she will be sailed regularly.

I know the feeling! I had to sell my much loved NSM1 about 6 yrs ago for the same reason. I had just spent over a grand on new sails too!! anyone know where she is now? 3182 Uptight!!

I started sailing OKs a bit different but a good fun boat. Went to the nationals in Weymouth and over 30 boats turned up!!
Still go it and sailing it at the moment as my crew has a broken foot!

Solos are great in a strong blow by the way. They plane very easily.

wouldnt recomend a soslow i had one b4 my Phantom not nice.  Stick to Merlins

Supernova thats want you want to sail, much nicer than a Phantom or solo

Supa Nova's are funny looking things, got one at my club and it does not go too well. Personally i like to stick to the classics like te OK. Would not want a slowlo though.

Ok's are great boats, Supanova's are rubbish how can a boat that is heavier, with a smaller sail area sail of a similar PN to a Phantom ?

That is true. I am regularly beating the Merlins on the water at the moment in my OK and the supanova and Finn. Should be back in the Merlin Sunday though!!

Well I'll stick up for the SoSlow as I have one too!  Whilst the Merlin will always take precedent over the SoSlow (well, it is definitely slow compared to the Merlin!), they are great little boats to sail and I enjoy my club racing in it.

Have you thought about sticking it on the top of the car, Richard?  At the recent End of Season Champs at Draycote, three guys came up from Salcombe in one car with two boats on the trailer (one upside down on top of the other) and one on the roof!

There seems to be some very good class racing in Solos.  Our lot have a system when the winner has to get the rest of 'em a cup of tea!

Jude,

That is a very valid point. It had crossed my mind to pop it on the roof bearing in mind I have and Audi Estate, it might just fit!!

I have the opportunity of obtaining an OK and from all accounts it is in pretty good nick and fun boats to sail, although neither will ever compare with the Merlin in terms of looks, performance and so on.

Will get back into the Merlin class when the kids get a bit older, although I will keep an association with the class through membership,until then I will have to make do with single handed, piecemeal sailing!!

All the best.

80 boats at the winters, 109 at the inlands,75 in scotland for the nationals and over 70 at the end of seasons. 5 regional series. i think the solo is more popular and competitive than ever. no doubt the merlin is a joy to sail, cutting through the water like a knife through butter. its hard work in a solo but rewarding. www.sailboatdeliveries.com might help with transportation.

Thanks Will.

I must confess. The other issue is the daunting thought of driving all the way to Birmingham from deepest Sussex!! Not a very attractive thought!

Lol,  I made (nearly) that drive last year with a Shoreham hangover in the pouring rain.

Nasty.

The Solos do have a good following but being an International class the OK has a worldwide following. We had the Worlds here a couple of years back and had 80ish boats of about 10 nationalities turn up. Good to compete for your country!! I know our Neighbours at Upper Thames have a massive fleet of OKs and have 30 odd turn up at their opens.

A Merlin will be a doodle on an Audi Estate roof rack , but will probably only go right way up on its trolley unless you have some big strong beams handy. The mast overhangs might be dodgy on legal limits though. Anyone know the exact law?

For what it is worth and it was 1960 ish (Health & saftey, breathalisers, speedbumps 70 MPH et etc since then.) Stuart Jardine and His brother Adrian once roared past us on our way to Whitstable (I wasn't old enough to drive so Pa was.) with their Flying Dutchmen on the roof of their Minis!(Sadly no picture though "Clarence" Farrars collection still being annotated by his executors might have. I'm sure these days the overhangs would get you. I did see one opf those Holt-Allen Roof rack things like Robin Judah used to have at the Boat Barge on the North Side of Burseledon Bridge on the A27 a few weeks back I doubt its been sold.

You must be joking about a merlin on a roof rack

Robin Judah did it on his Aston Martin and his Coombes Jaguar in the 1960's (30 mph trailer limit in those days!)I'm pretty sure he put his Hornet on the roof too.

Most roof racks are 50 to 70 Kgs max load. I would suspect that you could put a Merlin on and be OK as they are over engineered to cover any failure in this litigation cultured world, technically it would probably be illegal due to it being overloaded. I would imagine that the police have enough idiots in bangers to cope with to worry about the legallity of it.

Though if i did it i would probably get done!

If Ancient Geek was too young to drive when overtaken by Stuart in his Mini with an FD on the roof he is not very ancient.  Perhaps he should be retitled "Youthful Geek"

PS  I witnessed both the Mini/FD and Aston/Merlin combos.  I seem to remember Stuart had his mini stolen in London with all his sails inside.  Luckily he didn't have the boat on it at the  time!

Some interesting comments!

So not being much of a traveller. How long would it take to get to Shustoke from Balcombe, West Sussex and what is the best route to take? Looked on the AA Routemaster and it takes you round the houses. 

Answers on a postcard please!

Richard,
M23, M25, M40, M42 to J6 then 10 mins.  From you, 2.5 max.

GGGGGGGG

Sorry I can't help I have only experience of routes from Aberdeen!!!  9 - 10 hours to Banbury so think I should be leaving now for the Tideway in June!!! (Must order my visa)

Being out of the UK, we sail our two Merlins just for fun(not both at the same time), and our two OK Dinghies in competition.  Dick Batt will agree that these are two of the nicest dinghies to sail; it's hard to decide which we like best, but let's say there is less scope for recrimination in separate OK's.

I think Dick has still got his OK. Think it was called final shot or last shot something like that but was always a very fast one. Hung from his sail loft roof for many years.