well, 1018 went for her maiden sail this weekend, sailing at Harlow Blackwater in the Woo Led Hat series races 7 and 8. Found out that the port self bailer leaks faster than both hailers can drain together! well, that didnt stop us, that and some adjustments made to the running rigging whilst underway and we wernt doing half as bad until..... coming hard onto the wind round a mark, I gave the order to thighten the downhaul and down came the mainsail! turned out to be a faulty bowline. So we limped back to the club, tipped the boat over and retrieved the main halyard, made a few more adjustments and went out for the start of the next race, about a minute late but nothing major, went around the course and landed up 3rd on corrected. Wish we had a spinny but not too bad for her first outing!!! http://merlinrocket1018.shutterfly.com/action/?a=8QZNG7lmybMQi |
Shane, |
Lovely job - and a great record of the restoration. Hope to meet up with you at vintage events through the year. |
Batt sails bargain department has a selection of old spinnakers from £20 - £40 |
we do have a spinny, cant remember what shape it is in but we are waiting to collect the poles which Mags has given us and then it is a matter of fitting them out thats all. but spinny or no spinny, we wanted to go sailing!!!! |
Shane, looks great. Looked like a good days sailing too! |
Can confirm that 1018 is pretty quick spinny or no spinny as she beat us (yes I know that that is not hard all you HBSC sailors) Mind you if we had not had the altercation with the fireball and the resultant turns who knows! Seriously, well done lads and keep it up |
Speaking of maiden voyages......back in the mid 80's I purchased and restored (well sort of) MR1635. First time out the jib halyard/forestay gave way, the mast came down and the foot punctured the front buoyancy bag. It was a race day at Harlow (Blackwater) Sailig Club but my wife and I were not racing....but we had to be rescued! I think my wife has stepped into a Merlin only twice since....and both times under protest. I have great memories of 1635...a very pretty boat and a great way to learn to sail...and all for 150 quid! I wonder if she is still sailing? I gave her away in 1989 when I moved to the USA and purchased 3133.. |
Nick did you decide to keep 3133 in the end as you were looking for a new one a little while ago were you not? |
Please send me your address and phone No. and I will add |
Yes - still have 3133 and hope to get her back on the water this weekend for the first sail of the season. I am still interested in a replacement boat but while in the UK over Christmas I contacted two shipping companies and neither seemed particularly interested in getting involved. 3133 was shipped in 1989 in a 40' container along with our household contents so it was problem free. Purchasing a boat blind from 4000 miles away is a little intimidating. The 'for sale' web page contains very few photos and the boat descriptions frequently contain no more than a handful of words. |