I need to request that my sailing club Exective committee allocate a more useful PY for my Classic Merlin for club racing in accordance with new RYA advice for old Developement Class dinghies.

What is the PY that the Merlin Association would allocate to my 1959 Proctor Mk VIII (Sail Number 950)?

Had a look around and found that with the current PY being set at 1006, I can then add 70 onto that.

1076.

Cheers

Here's the link if anyone else needs it.

Also available on page 46 of the Yearbook.

Now you need to keep your boat up to date with carbon spars, foils and the latest sail technology and you should walk it!

Funily enough I was sailing her with her original sails - Ratsay and Lamphorn (?) dated 1959......But I do have an Aluminum mast and boom!

I do have a more modern set of sails - same maker but dtated 1962 - I will get them out for special occasions.....:)

Presumably they are cotton Ratsey and Lapthorns?

Nope - Terylene

But they are as soft as cotton!

Of course a nice new set of the cheaper Dacron sails, made for the older Merlin, will still set me back 3 times the cost of the boat in the first place....

You can have them in cotton if you want Steve....Nice crisp cotton ones...... then you can give Chris Barlow a run for his money in the 'cotton challenge'!

D

so who makes cotton sails then?

John,
 as it said at the start of the Bionic Man..."we have the capability".  I'm getting my new rig for the smokers (alloy/dacron) through iSs - the tie up between Superspar, Banks and McNamara. It's interesting, my new Contender sail will be a development of the much discussed 'tape' construction (they are legal in the class) yet at the other end of the spectrum,  we can also offer new sails in egyptian cotton, cut to the old templates. Drop me a line and I'll contact your directly with more detail.

Dougal

Vintage handicaps for the De May series have been updated. The penalties for wide beam, and the benefits of a wooden mast, have changed in value....

Am I right in thinking that a Straight Satisfaction has 10 point advantage over a Smokers/Fadaway Satisfaction? Seems a bit harsh to have such a penalty for being a couple of inches wider.

I will look forward to sailing merlin 6 with wood and cotton more this year, and I hope a few more of the earliest boats will now join in too.  
I wonder, though, if this may get anyone sailing with a wooden mast and modern sails just to take advantage of the handicap?!! The sail must be the much more influential on speed than the mast.

CHris,

I think the other issue is getting a wooden stick to cope with the loadings that modern sails put on the rig. If I recall correctly, there is a 22% increase in actual sail area between the rig you have for Iska and the sail that I have on the Smokers (as an example). But I might be coming back to you regarding a charter for Spriteful if you're sailing Number 6!!

Jez... Smokey Bear is now a smokey colour (I wish we could easily attach pictures) and has a shiny deck.... so progress is being made!

D

Well, Panatella is still a rather mouldy green colour on the bottom but I have got most of the carbon off and half the decks. Going to be a long winded job but ultimately rewarding! It is a shame that it is not easier to post pictures but I will send a load in to Mags when I am done.

Save the carbon, prices going up according to another post!

Not sure you would want this carbon!!

roll it all up and put it on ebay in a year or two, someone will reconstitute it into a boom or some such! Glad its underway - always the most difficult leap to take, can't wait to see it.

David, Indeed I agree with you. Both times I have broken wooden masts over the last ten years have been when I have had a modern sail rather than the original cottons.