Hi does anyone have a set of carbon poles and a carbon boom for sale? Bit of a long shot I know, but if anyone does - please call 07920 251 365 or email : [email protected]

If I have to buy new - anyone know who does the best deal? 

Thanks, 

Andy

Andy
New you are going to pay £230 for a pair of poles and around £400 for the boom the major online chandlers can hardly slip a Rizzla between their prices, who is closest to you? to avoid postage costs.
You could save £35ish on the poles by doing it yourself and buying carbon tubing direct but I found it hard to source then there was the hassle of measuring and fitting out.
I decieded £35 was worth the Saturday morning it would have taken me to do them.

Give Tony (Blackie) at Sail Sport a ring. The parts for a pole are listed on his site and as far as I can tell add up to about �85 a pole, knowing Tony the cost of assemby will be reasonable.

Booms, well depends if you want a light oval Chipstow or a Superspars

p.s. what have you done, broken the lot, had them stolen, or are you getting a river boat too and fitting it out?

Got to be carbonising Il Gattino I reckon (mk IX)

Dr Mills you're a psychic! However, it's not "a common as muck" Mk IX (As Phils 'Bunions') but a rare, sophisticated and sought after Adur 7.    

Not carboning the main twig ~ Hampton gentlemans rules and all that.

Do you really need twin poles on the river.Why not have a single carbon pole. There are normally a few old single Jacko poles available for £80 ish.

Why have a spinnaker at all, far quicker to gybe your way down the river with the rest of them

Carbon booms are so much softer on the skull in the unexpected gybing situation.

Twin poles are less likely to get in a muddle, you can put in 4 gybes down a run at Hampton

I thought the reason for not carbonising the twig on a river boat is that is gives move weight aloft, so it gives you something to roll against when you are tacking or otherwise rolling the boat around to make up for the zero wind.

Protest!Don't forget the rule 42 lessons at Thamesis 5th Feb.

So who are all these dots and dashes then?

To be honest I do not care a dot or even give a dash. How about a ruling that all boats older than say 25 years should be kept as close to original as poss.

Not quite what you want in a restricted class, more appropriate for the Enterprises and Lasers.

There is already an informal handicapping system for the Vintage Wing meetings.

The Hampton Merlin fleet have not been particularly bothered about carbon bits on older boats and the same people end up winning the races.  In my view much better that older boats are sailed looked after and upgraded.

Il Gattino was stuck in the Ranelagh boat shed unsailed for at least a decade before Andy bought it

How about a Vintage nationals.... Weekend at Datchet or something like that. 

Mervyn what do you reckon?

We haven't had a spinny this year and have discovered that on the river 90% of the time you do need one to keep up. 

Sometimes when sailing a narrow boat on the river there is wind on a Sunday.

If you are going to hold a Merlin Vintage Nationals then why not sail with the CVRDA at their Nationals (this year at Roadford as mentioned)and abstract the results.  If it's handicap racing anyway then that should be no problem.  CVRDA and Merlin Vintage events are held that way anyhow throughout the year. It would mean loads of boats on the water of all types.

where are the details about roadford published? - can't see them on the cvrda website!

I'd just like to point out to Andy, that as a Hoare IX, Onions was far from easy to come by.
Also, the main reason for keeping the metal twig is that it doesn't bend as much, coupled with the nice flat, twisty main that Dave Sails made for me, I get lots of acceleration in the puffs.
Finally, I think the vintage champs should be held in Salcombe or some other sniggly tricky place. If we wanted to sail on some nasty big reservoir, we'd buy new boats, nes pa

We've got a Vintage Champs - the Inlands - with our own starts and shorter courses. Let's see you there this year - someone's got to stop Roger the Boat Tart winning again!

Pat (or Sandy) have made the obvious suggestion but Mervyn and myself are also negotiating for a De May event on fisrt Sat. of Bourne End week. Do you guys want to extend this ? Its not Salcombe but I bet it'll have its share of 'fiddle' !

Will it be the Championship...? Salcombe sounds like an excellent idea, maybe do it at the same time as the open.

Count most of the cvrda lot out unless the weather's really foul again as it's Clywedog at Whitsun Bank Hol weekend - all vintage boats welcome.

Andrew;   I am too busy saving up for my next lovely grandchild to let you have my spare pair of Chipstow poles for free - you could try asking though.

- not forgetting the chipstow poles for sale on the equipment for sale list...

For those people who are serious about attending a Vintage Merlin Championship, why not attend Bourne End Week at the end of May? There will be two races each day allowing for 8 races in total over the four days. Since this event is held over the second Bank Holiday weekend in May, you only require one day's annual leave for the final day's racing, prize giving and party. I am trying to persuade the Merlin Committee to unlock the shackles of their war chest to buy a Vintage Merlin replica which is about 22 inches long and has painstakingly been constructed with wooden Collar mast with diamonds, luff grove,centre board casing, and each plank in ply has been glued to scale, together with all the fittings. With potentially such a remarkable trophy for Bourne End Week, how many of you Vintage Merlin boat owners would commit to attend? Please contact me soonest on 07836- 506909 or reply by email to [email protected]

Mike

Flinkidink 1097

Mike - the trouble with Bourne End are the vagaries of the conditions and the propensity for Rule 42 breach.  That's why for a Championship proper it needs to be somewhere larger.  Salcombe in my opinion is an excellent suggestion - maybe we could get a start during the May Bank Holiday Opens... John?

The problem of holding an Vintage champs at Salcombe is that many of the Vintage ownwers would be unlikely to risk their boats if the waves were big.  We aren't talking the 1600 and upwards numbers but those below.  Do remember too that Merlins started on the Thames so a Vintage champs at Bourne End is not inappropriate.  I appreciate that the National championships have long been held on the sea but some of these old ladies don't have the strength or the rigidity they once had!!  (Also, while the hulls have got more supple, the crews of many of the vintage boats have not!)

I don't recall reading about a Championship being held on the River Thames in Robert Harris's article.  Salcombe is a great compromise (however unrealistic).

Bourne End sounds like a good plan...I hope to be there in 1220 Hic, although she is currently in bits in the garage...

I meant to say Champs always held on trhe sea but flagged up the concern that ownwers of more delicate/ancient craft may have about big waves and sea sailing.

Different conditions make interesting venues. Salcome has it's own attractions and difficulties and Bourne End has its own. Because some people cannot bother to learn Rule 42 is not a reason to not go to a place just a reason why we should sort it out once and for all.

I would rather take my boat to Bourne End where the risk of strain is less although that does not preclude Salcome in the future.

What has all this got to do with twin poles and a boom ???

Not a lot really Ben, but isn't this forum just great! Opens up so many avenues off one simple topic. Oh and i'd prefer River rather than Salcombe.

Ben, in respect of twin poles and a boom, not a clue why the thread has headed this way. However.................!
When I was active at Upper Thames, we were approached on a couple of occasions by Jim Park when he was on the MROA Committee to have a river championships and then the River Championships was born back in 1995. If you look at the results, it's been divided between ancient and modern boats. Will agree with those who are sceptical regarding adherence to Rule 42 but having been an observer both on land and on the water at major events, I suspect that wherever the venue, none of the Marlin fleets are entirely squeaky clean in this respect (myself included.
The River Championship is still there for the older boat, and providing the fleet are happy to play with Raters, OKs, Fireflies etc, it is a most enjoyable, albeit liver damaging, week's holiday. However,I am sure that others would rather sail without being "Ratered" so maybe a separate venue is appropriate if a proper Championship is required. However, for elderly Merlins, please, not on the sea.

Why not have the River Championshi and arrange to have a Judge present to adjudicate on Rule 42. You might learn what is legal and what is not. It would seem that I have been cheating my whole sailing career with out knowing it! Oh, single pole or twin pole, whichever suits you!

Not you Barry! Perish the thought.
I watched a light airs Rater Race; Rule 42ing their way down (Or was it up?) river the race was won by the guy who sat still and genuinely gybed or tacked on the wind shifts.
I am sure Barry is right, get an umpire in preferably one like Barry also a top line yotter who has sailed small dinghies. Barry is not the only one Dave Chivers on the East Coast would fit the bill too.

I'm not sure how strict the merlin tolerences are for booms and spin poles....but the cherub fleet have a sticky weekend a couple of times a year where everyone gets together and builds their own stuff.

In november in a weekend a group of us built a boom, a spin pole for the asymetric, dagger boards and altered t foil rudder blades...so it can be done.

You could always drop by the cherub website for info or help on diy....they are a helpful bunch and pretty knowledgable too :) not sure if thats helpful to you.

Another option perhaps ... running a vintage event in parallel with the class championships. It would be possible to sail the vintage fleet at Oulton Broad, whilst all the fit yooves race ofshore at Lowestoft. Both fleets could then come together for social events. Just an idea.

The fit yooves also race on the Broad that weekend, so a very good and positive idea. Hospitality will be good too. Two very good clubs RN&SYC and WOBYC.

There does not seem to be a fixture listed for Lowestoft and Oulton Broad this year. An omission? 
There is however already a vintage fixture on Wroxham Broad which is a great Broad to race on. Accomodation is not so easy inland but Norwich isn't very far.

I have given up on 'poles and boom' !

Well spoted, Ancient Greek - no event this year !!

The Wroxham date given to us is always early August and I am always on family holiday but that's my problem. However, for personal reasons I would love to have a Vintage at Oulten, really good idea. (Not early August though).

Apologies to ANCIENT GEEK (and to Oulton) 

Its word association - I couldn't count how many of your comments I have read and enjoyed ... and to spell it wrongly !!!

SORRY