Come on someone - only a quid so far and NO RESERVE (PS it's not mine!!)

Garry, Is this a Merlin as opposed to a Merlin rocket?

You may wish to alter the description so when you search for "Merlin Rocket" you get it.

Lol, "Not mine" rather than "Mine" whoops!  Wondered what it was doing in Sussex rather than the land of Rab C Nesbitt!

DEFINITELY not mine!!  But there have been people looking for older Merlins so there might be interest just to have an old one for the birthday bash!!

Looks like a Chippendale built Proctor mk 14 a genuine DOG of a desighn. It broke the heart of John Oakley, Mike Astley, David Peachey and Stuart Jardine to name a fww good 1960's MR sailors!

The boat number is 1386 which makes it a 12 "Old Un Hairy" Did things get better with the Proctor 15 ?

I had a XV, was my 1st Merlin.  OK ghosting but wasn't that good in light - medium stuff but was easier to handle in a blow than the IX.  Not very successful, the XVI was better, moved back towards the IX/IXb but neither of them improved on that seminal design.

No!Though Robin Judah did win two very heavy weather chamionship races in one (1963.) it was not a good boat, unless the photograph is very distorted that boat is not a Proctor 12. Phot may be distorted.

Must be worth more than £2.05 though!!

Having just bought 2 loads od logs one in Denmark one in UK I'd agree if only for firewood, wood it seems no longer grows on trees!

My brother John had a Chippendale MK XII number 1241, the bow in one of the E-bay photos does look like John's boat did. If the boat definitely is 1386 then it is indeed a Chippendale Proctor MK XII built in 1961. It was by far the most popular design at the time.

The 'dog' was the MK XV. Robin Judah's new boat for the 1963 championship was a Chippendale MK XV no. 1569. We had two cancelled days then as GG wrote Robin crewed by John Faulkner won the two heavy weather races sailed on the Wednesday. Then the wind turned light and fluky for the 3rd and 4th races and for all their skills Robin and John could't coax enough boat speed from their MK XV to compete with the Adur 7s and MK IXs.

Can anyone explain the differences between the Mk 9 and Mk 12 and what their strengths are? Are there any archived photos of these old designs about. How big a performance increased did the move to wider designs like the Mk9b and Superstition make?

If you are a MROA member then there are pictures in the library section of my Proctor IXb.  You have to log in with details.  There are more pictures there than were in the restoration article earkier this year.  Hope this helps out on the IX design for you.

I'me sure the desighn notes cover this but:
The Mk 9 was a conceived as a Championship winning boat (Ist Boat 652 Clueless) which it was,(Several!) initial gossip said it was hard to sail, it was not! The MK 11 was supposedly a 9 with the vices removed a good boat it did win a Championship and a Silver Tiller, The Mk 12 was conceived as a boat to win the Silver Tiller which it did at least 3 times and a light weather Championship, The 9b was a highly succesful attempt at updating the 9 it had wider and softer turn of bilge as result it won 2 Championships it was Ian Proctors last universally sucesful design. The extra width must have helped. The Expectant as its name imlpies the first wide boat was not an immediate success though it did well enough, it was a very quick design and deserved a fuller following which it did not get as it really had only two builders (Rowsell & Aln.)Both hardly mass producers! TheBeam thing really took off when Alan Warren sailed Tony Watt's Wot Nots and derivatives in 1968 onwards though in those days Al' and Barry would have made a coal barge go quickly especially in a blow.

Sorry, - Supersticion Won a silver Tiller and lots else besides, not sure if its speed was the extraeam or the basic hull shape ie rocker further aft fuller under the water fwd and as fine a bow above as possible. Certainly if one had ther chance to boat on boat in equal condition a Supersticion would "Run down" a 9b.