Sadly I don't have the required winter storage, so she's had to go up on Ebay. The most beautiful boat I've ever owned!

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Merlin-Rocket-170 ... 3ca73b72fd

Ebay item No.: 260503728893

Grab a bargain!

What hull shape is the Adur 7 similar to if it was being compared to the Mk IX, XII's ..etc..

CC is right, this boat is truelly stunning, and blisteringly quick on the River.  With some pretty decent kit too!

In early 1963 my former wife Helen and I bought the first Adur 7 'Helgel' no. 1502 following the declaration that the Adur 6 was out of class. Prior to the 1963 championship at Whitstable we won 40 of the 60 races we sailed. My previous best championship result was 9th. At Whitstable in 1963 Helen and I were 3rd in a wide variety of conditions including two heavy weather races on the Wednesday. 'Helgel' was probably the best boat of the 10 or so I owned over nearly 30 years.

I believe Helen was only the 2nd lady crew to finish in the first 3 in a championship.

The Adur 7s were more Veed than the Proctor boats. they were quick to windward and planed as fast as anything else. I think they were at least equal to the MK IX and remain so on the river today

I have raced against this boat ona River, untouchable (especialy with a decent helm!) This is the finest looking merlin, no finest looking wooden boat I have ever seen. A must have!

.

Many more photos of 1700 on this website. Very desirable - pity about the recession.

Looks terrific. I can believe all the good that has been said about the design which seems slightly more veed midships and aft than Saracen the Adur 8 we have in our local club.  Having crewed in Saracen all I can say is that of her era she must have been quick; she is much more forgiving than my NSM, very manoeuvrable, stable on the plane and, with her highish stem head, veed bow and rounded mid sections an excellent sea boat.

It finishes tomorrow, be interesting to see how much it goes for  it really is a stunner!

I crewed for the late , great Chris Andrews in Rondo ( Adur  7 ) - we won the Silent World Trophy at Plymouth and a few other prizes on the circuit . His next boat was an Adur 8 ( 1834 ) and we found that a bit of a dog . Couldn't get it to go in the light stuff even with a 22'6" rig - but we were heavy !!.Our last sail was at Hamble and the end came when a National 12 sailed past us on a two sail reach !!

I then had 1934 built for me - a compromise between the 7 and 8 - a fabulous boat which deserved a better helmsman .

There were three Adur boats in the first 6 in that oddball 2 race Plymouth championship. I was impressed by Royston Comport's performance in his Adur 8 and ordered one for the 1996 season. 1888 was my first boat with a centre main. I had thought she was reasonably competitive in lots of wind but when 'Expectant' planed through our lee at Weymouth I changed my mind! Ironically David Potter was 3rd overall in an Adur 7.

There's a photo of 1888 at Weymouth in the vintage photo section, she looks good in that.

Would have thought that was the 1996 season you ordered your boat !!

meant 1966, typed it wrong too

There we are, we can all make mistakes. It was !966 of course. Didn't something else momentous happen that year? Oh yes my son William was born!

I used to sail one of these but was always too heavy for it, (a wonderful boat. I wonder if anyone knows where to get the 'lines plan'. firstly in order to make a model & then perhaps to make a scaled up version with more weight capacity (obviosly it would not be a Merlin within the class rules but I am more interested in sailing pleasure these days 'poetry in motion)

Sold for £1270. Not a bad price. Will she be on the Thames?

Apparently so. Tamesis I believe. Unless I was mistaken there were 15 Merlins out yesterday with some notable exceptions. It won't be long before TC breaks 20 boats for a winter series race.

Great to see River sailing flourishing, Hampton has also been attracting good turn outs with some cracking sailing during their winter series.

'Hampton – the Chairman’s Choice of river sailing club’

Tom - I'm not sure that's necessarily a good marketing tool, the fact I sail at Hampton might be reason enough for others to go to Tammy!

your not that good Alex.

I wasn't suggesting that Tom, but good to know you've faith in your 'ex' crew

Now now boys!

Who at Tammy ?
I know at least 2 who were interested
RC , PM or another ?

olympic medalist!

Ahh RC then......

that'll be RC OM !

great news - looks like a lovely boat too

wtbhayta

Dont forget that the Mark 7 Adur was deemed illegal due to interpretation of the 'rise  of floor measurement!'

No that was the Adur 6........

Your quite right. The old brain is starting to get fuzzled! George Steadman, who ran Adur Boatyard had to close down after he had to replace or alter the Adur 6's he had built. The 6 was the fastest of them all. Still puzzled over the interpretation of the word 'girth'

Oh Barry  ,you need some tablets ! It was George Deadman ! And he built quite a few Adur 7s ,8s afterwards . He closed only after his long time partner Neville Brookes died .

the Adur 7 rocks! didn't Ned Sparrow have one?

I told you the brain was going! It did cost Adur Boatyard a huge amount from which they did not recover.

Ah Learner, now we know who you are........

Yes, Ned Sparrow origionally owned 'Splatter' no. 1631. Phil Plumtree owns her now and sailed her at Tamesis last Sunday. Ned's best moment in 'Splatter was when he led at the first mark in the first race of the 1963 championship at Whitstable

Wasn't Splatter the first Merlin to have transom flaps?

Yawn...

Apology's for being boring, ITK

Apologies, I am sure there are some people out there that would be interested to hear more

But be careful, as this is a little bit of a wind up, isn't it... Learner

Do you enjoy competitive river sailing?
Couldn’t care a toss about which boat first had transom flaps?
Not too fussed about who had which boat between 1950 & ‘70?
Don’t think you could handle the excitement at Tammy?

Come and join Hampton – we’re interesting characters! (And we write our names too!)

How sad.

Sorry. Happy at Cookham!!

Wasn't Whitstable 1963 a little early for 1631 Splatter Robert? Robin Judah had one of the newest boats 1589 and I thought Ned's big moment came in his older Mark XI .

Like Robert I could have sworn Ned's greatest moment came in "Splatter" but the year book says 1964 for Splatter and I would bow to actuarial precission!

So much for actuarial precision - Robin Judah's boat was actually 1569 but to be only 20 out isn't bad for an actuary !!

Thanks to FWPRO for pointing out the obvious anomaly in my story. If correct it would have required 129 boats to have been built in 4 months! Ned definitely led at the windward mark in the first race in 1963 . He must have been sailing an earlier boat, 'Blatter' perhaps but that name is not listed in the handbook.

I'm pretty certain it was Blattter - a mark XI . I had met Ned for the first time when I visited Bognor for the Black Friday race the previous year .

He greeted me with " who's your crew ? " " My wife "I answered 

" Bad luck " said Ned " took me three months to get my wife in the boat and three ****** years to get her out of it ! "

In those days Merlins were a bit of a handful for the fairer sex .

I am sure Tony Lane can inform us. Didn't Ned at one time have an Adur 4 no 902?

Is Froggies Wine Bar still open?

....and didn't Timmy win the Friday race at the Nationals in 1915 and get back to the Somme before teatime? Or was that Strangely-Brown?

LTA Its great to see that you are cottoning on to the humour!

Gawd Bless Yer, Guvnor. You're a proper toff, an' no mistake!

Am I the only one who has confused the Siegfried Line with my main halyard?  Anyhow I am using my old main halyard for hanging out my washing.

My friend Dr Who tells me the Siegfried Line won't be there untill 1939, are you -Western Front- by chance a fellow traveller?

For 'Traveller' see
http://www.merlinrocket.co.uk/forum/main/topic.asp?topic=4763&forum=main&comments=14&page=1&sort=5&order=1&search=

And so, Gentle Reader, to bed!

My earliest record of 902 is in the 1962 year book. According that book she was an Adur 3 called 'Sea Fury' and was owned by A. D. Thompson of Christchurch SC.

to all the historians who can't remember '63 from '64.
Splatter  date built 1/12/1963. measurement completed 26/4/1963. first Certificate 14/51964 ( taken from certificate)
unlikely she was 1st round the 1st mark in the 1st race at the '63 champs!!!

Built 1/12/63 - measured 26/4/63! Dr Wot, is this your doing?

typo measured 26/06/64!