Just got my first Merlin a couple of weeks ago and so far have sailed it twice.  The first time I went out was a F2 and we sailed under the Forth Road Bridge and the boat felt really nicely balanced and did exactly what I wanted it was brilliant!  The second time (Wednesday) I took it out at its new home in Stonehaven (Aberdeenshire).  To be honest it was a total b*tch to handle!  there was a big swell rolling in and it just kept wanting to screw up into the wind.  Its 3170 'blondie' and is a hog stepped NSM1.  I've downloaded the form and am going to send a chequ off tomorow to join the club but was hoping some people could point me in the right direction as how to set up the rig?!  I'm taking it for a sail again tomorow and I just hope that the swell is not so big!  I'm almost positive thats its more to do with my rusty helming skills than the setup of the boat but I really have no idea other than some pen marks from the previous owner on the muscle box!  (the rig is controled via blocks leading back to the thwart so no big metal handle).  If people could give me an idea of some rough settings or how to sail it a bit better I'd be very grateful!  I think that she doesn't like to be trimmed so far forwards and when we moved back in the boat and raked the rig a bit (was a F3) it did seem to help a bit.  I also think that we weren't sailing her flat enough but I was hiked out and depowering the main - maybe we're not heavy enough (will have to get the girl to put on some more beef!).  Thanks for any advice!.....Oli.

I assume it is a lifting rudder, not fixed? Is there any play in it? Was it all the way down?

Yup its a lifting rudder, its a good quality IYE stock and tiller so there is very little/no play in it and yes it was down.  I think we had two main problems we just couldn't keep it flat enough (we're 20 stone combined) and it seems to nose dive in the swell and wants to slew around on the bow.  Its just unusual as I've never sailed a boat that wants to do that all the time!  Gonna give it another go today and see how we get on (less swell and less wind so such be better)  Has anyone got some really rough guidelines for how much tension should be in the rig and how far raked it should be???  Cheers Oli.

In regards to how much rake that we sail with the rough rule of thumb is that you should be able to sail the boat fairly flat with you both hiked out for approx 90% of the time, if you are sitting in then you need to take off some rake and if you are struggling to keep the boat flat then you need to add rake until you reach this optimum. Have fun.

Try no having the centreboard down all the way, also fixed rudders generally perform better as they dont rise. Sit well back, crew behind thwart especially offwind.

As a really rough rule of thumb, try 10-15 cms between the main halyard hanging vertically and the aft side of the mast at the gooseneck when the shrouds etc are holding the mast but not inducing pre-bend, in other words, no significant tension.  

However, that really is only a start point.  I think the fact that the boat went well on flatter water says a good deal more about the set-up.  Less centreboard can help, as the man says.