I'm the proud owner of my first Merlin Rocket, "Chip off the old block" MR 3373 ! Membership form to the class is filled in and in the post and RYA are notified! thats the easy bit...now to our first sail this weekend....! 

Anyone got any tips on sailing a Merlin that are unique to the class (especially if its howling like the forecast!?). I used to sail a lot in 420's and lasers in my teens and a small stint in 49ers but its been a while! I think we'll be ok upwind but from the windward mark onwards I guess is where it can really start going wrong! From what I gather looking at videos on youtube at the top mark, the crew sneaks the guy a bit right on the mark then puts the pole on and the helm hoists the kite as soon as the poles on. If running the crew sits to leeward and helm to windward and crew keeps the kite through the gybes, right? At the drop is it pole off first and then helm pulls the kite down or kind of all at the same time. Anything else I should know?! Many thanks

Sounds like it's time to start planning the next trip to Rutland! Don't know if you can see all of the library items on line but there are some excellent articles on Spinny handling.

thats exactly what we need, many thanks !

Welcome to the class im the membership mans dog  black and white pointer i am and do all the admin for him

will send you a whole load of goodies when i get your form

Another useful bit of advice that we wound most helpful in our first couple of outings is ... 

When it goes over, be out onto that centre-board as quickly as possible, or it will be upside down in an instant :)

I have to say I love sailing the merlin, but its a bit of a twitchy thing, half the time it's trying to fall over to windward, the other half to leeward .. my advice would be to do some fitness training .. after a couple of hours out I was knackered ...

Hi,

welcome.

there are plenty of materials on the website which has been recently updated.,

You may also like to watch the recent films added to Utube.  search for merlintraina.
steve

Thanks everyone
We survived yesterday ! There were a few handling things we got wrong like -

-kite sheets under the boat (with a sharp bow this looks like quite a problem! I guess we just try and remember to keep them tight and in the cleats upwind. Does everyone put knots in them if this helps?)

-main sheet hooking round the hoop in a couple of gybes (better than looping it round my neck I guess but still quite annoying when you're trying to go around the bottom mark!)

- pole going between the main sheet on the drop! )We were trying to keep it simple and drop the pole first and then the kite before rounding up) Is it better practice to leave the pole on and just get the kite away?

Still we stayed dry and live and learn for next Sunday !

oh yup I forgot one -

jib sheets catching on that wire that runs from the front of the mast thru the deck (almost every tack...)

All sounds very familiar!
Our kite sheets go under the bow when we don't do a clean drop, maybe especially from a reach - so it may be down to the system you describe.  Ours has improved alot by getting the kite into the chute until it's 'snug' on the pole, then pole off with one hand, and continue to haul the kite back in as quick as the crew's arms will go - should be about three big armfulls to get it up and down. Careful not to pull the kite down too tight on the pole or it'll be tricky to get off in a hurry! I should add that I'm not claiming it's the perfect system , just that it works for us.

Mainsheet falls catching the hoop may be the boom block positions - ours does it when the rig is near full rake, otherwise they're just forward enough to stop it happening.
The wire thingy (guessing at the puller here)should probably be off for anything not involving the spinny as it counteracts the pole pushing into the mast. Not usually needed upwind!
Our hoist routine goes something like 
Check the sheets aren't cleated
Pull out the kite
Pull the puller
Push the pole out
Helm sets the sheet, pulls the snodger
Crew hoists and sits
 
And when you've finished the drop, take the puller off.
I think this is all standard stuff, hope that it helps - almost everything that goes wrong will have happened to everyone else at some stage.

Quite easy to put the guy under the bow (always the guy & when the pole comes off, in fact often when running by the lee coming into a crowded leeward mark).  Dropping routine as per the training materials, which makes it clear it is ALWAYS the helm's fault, but it's the poor crew who ends up on a slippery foredeck in a big swell trying to fish it back again.  I am a past expert and have learnt mostly not to do this one.  Crew drops as much kite as will go into chute then reaches for the pole, helm either watching or crew calls as pole comes off.  Helm pulls on the guy to take in the slack, doesn't need much, just an armful once.
Mainsheet - if the helm has hold of all the purchases to pull the boom over for the gybe it won't catch.  Also gets the boom over at the right point in the manouvre, if you wait till it comes by itself it will slam across and fill instantly on the new side which does not help stability.

silly question time....whats the snodger?

Pole downhaul. Not sure where the term Snodger came from?

Sometimes called Tweaker too I think.

The jib sheets won't catch if you release the puller (the wire from foredeck to gooseneck area) and it has an elastic takeaway on it.

Mainsheet falls catching on the hoop is an odd one - not seen that before. If it persists you may need to show a photo of the setup in case it's threaded wrongly.

Even with the puller (wire at the front of the mast) lose it often doesn't pull back by elastic alone (at least on my Winders )and a crews hand is needed.

Also the way you tie your jib sheets is important to stop snagging, they are many different ways.

Lee, you don't mention if you have twin poles, but if you do there is a simple underdeck rigging setup involving shock cord and plastic rings and a turning block and a bullseye and a deck eye and some stainless screws, which creates a 'fly away' for the downhauls which in turns lifts the sheets high enough. If you have this under deck set up then you might need to tighten or replace the shock cord, if you don't then its worth doing for a few quid.

If you have a single pole, then not dropping the sheets under the bow is down to sequence and crew handling, or your sheets are too long.

With both systems it is safest to pull the kite down into the boat as far as it goes before taking the pole off, then with one hand holding the kite halyard in the boat snap the pole off with the other and at then rapidly pull the kite in the last metre.

As someone said - this is all taught at Rutland by the experts, make plans for next May now!

Is there a pointer to pictures or diagram for this:

>>>
there is a simple underdeck rigging setup involving shock cord and plastic rings and a turning block and a bullseye and a deck eye and some stainless screws, which creates a 'fly away' for the downhauls which in turns lifts the sheets high enough. 
<<<

I have drawn a picture from memory and freehand (have a laugh) and put it on the following link, let me know any errors!

The term Snodger is reportably Richard Estaugh's.

I disagree with Andrew M about the guy under the bow.  It can also be the crew's fault through slow dropping post pole off but this could be corrected by the helm's actions. So I go for the team responsibility.

THANKS for the picture.
I have something very similar to that under my foredeck, so that is good!
But my tidy-away goes through a bulls-eye about 1/3 along under the foredeck:
A) this keeps the elastics etc nice and high and out of the way of the kite.
B) it also stops the retrieval pulling everything too far.

The question is: Should this dead-eye be in the system? Would removing it (or moving it further forward) do a better job of preventing helm error of guy under the bow? Or would removing it cause complete chaos?

Best to look at how much it takes up when rigged. Compare it to this picture.

It doesn't take-up that much, no.
The rings often fall below the gunwhale, so we are forever picking them back up onto the deck on the beat.

I have mine even higher. You need to re-route without the bulls-eye. The elastic won't get in the way of the spinnaker, when the pole is up the shockcord will be tight. Just be careful not to make it too tight otherwise it can make the pole slightly more difficult to put on.

THANKS!