I'm with Derek King and we wondered where 778 was now.

'Chopsticks' no. 778 was a beautiful 'Martine' that Jack Holt built for Derek King. She had dark mahogany planking with matching rolled decks. The 'Martine' design was popular in the mid 1950s, Jack built nearly fifty. If I remember correctly Derek won a championship race in her. She's still listed in the Year Book so she's not been reported as destroyed but as far as I'm aware she's never turned up at Vintage events.

My regards to you both. Robert

Some weeks ago someone suggested having a boat database which, in addition to the owner's details, could include anecdotal information, photos, status etc.

We have had some fascinating threads recently on old boats and it will be sad to lose their history.

I know that this would be a major undertaking but did the suggestion go anywhere? Perhaps it could just be another forum where each boat has its own thread. Or a Facebook sort of thing for each boat which can then be grouped.

?

If you look at the N12 example, many boats have no record, some, like out 3109 a very detailed one. One doesn't expect that all boats will be there, but the thing is that the structure exists, and can be added to.

Some of it is in the year books but the modern version would be a Merlin Rocket wiki for boats, history, anecdotes or just about anything MR related. Much of that info would have to be members only but it would certainly be worth paying the subs for and probably cheaper than the print costs of expanding the yearbook each year.

Have been away & only just seen this thread.  I agree with Rod & Jo - the N12 individual boat data is great although perhaps as a previous 12 owner & contributer to the data I could be biased.  I think it would be a great addition to the M/R site.