I am considering moving back to a Merlin from the Finn I currently sail. With my crew an all up weight would be 175kg

Used to sail Merlins on the Thames and Hamble but the floods came and Noah needed his boat back! Things have moved on, but the boats look even better. Thinking of a Winder 4 
1. Any one got a good boat to modern spec to try in Scotland?
2. What are the options for racing with other Merlins occasionally in Scotland or North of England
3. Is Salcombe still a good Merlin event
4. Anyone got a good modern up to speed boat for sale?

Martin,  In terms of the boats in the North of England, there are fleets at Hollingworth Lake, Bolton and Blackpool.  There are a couple of boats further north, but I am not sure where.

You would be welcome to come down to Hollingworth and try out a boat, as we have quite a few Winder boats in the fleet.

hello 
I sail at bass lake we have two merlins there   so far!     your welcome to visit if you like

Thanks guys, we'll make contact to try and sail a boat in late September. When would suit, say after a race day if tht is more convenient.

We are going to look at a couple of boats, but would like to sail a boat in order to male sure we're going for the right boat. 

We'd be happy to do some fleet racing and opens in the North .

Martin

In terms of Open Meetings, the Hollingworth Lake meeting is due soon (6th & 7th of October), so a good chance to pop down and see some boats in action and we should be able to organise you a sail.

Salcombe Merlin Week remains an incredibly good event - 100 boats with great competition throughout the week and of course the delights of Salcombe.

Will be in touch about a run down to the Hollingworth open and Salcombe seems like a definite.

Hi I am also in Scotland and thinking of moving to a merlin and would like to try out a boat first. Unfortunately I can't make it to Hollingworth as I will be sailing my 12 on the other side of the country.
Will be sailing with about 23-24 stone and can probably aford about £1000 was thinking probably an NSM 1 or 2 has anybody any suggestions.

Hi gents, I'm hopefully bringing a Smokers Satisfaction up to Scotland next week so would be interested in pulling all the Merlins there together for some racing, and maybe travelling to some North of England events too. Its a 1976 boat so I suppose if Martin has gotten a new Canterbury Tales mk IV then it might be an idea to use the suggested handicaps to allow everyone to have a chance of winning...??! The boat, assuming it checks out ok when we go to buy it next week will be used in a Get Racing on a Budget series on a new website I'm involved in at www.caledoniasailing.com . We initially looked at finding an Enterprise or GP but they don't really get my pulse racing, and the Merlin really is a stunning boat. If anyone else is interested then perhaps we could do a Doodle poll to see which events people might be interested in doing so we can all get together? There seems to be a few Merlin Rockets around the place - a couple in Holy Loch, at least one in Bardowie, maybe others in the Lochs up North? I'd be happy to do some event reports on anything we do and post it on Caledonia Sailing and here to try to drum up more interest. Thoughts?

Hi
Good to hear of other merlins in the area. I am doing up 3174 - a smokers -based at Garelochhead. I think there is another Merlin at Helensburgh sailing club.

Good to hear Adam, be nice to have some close racing. The plan for my boat is here http://www.caledoniasailing.com/participation-for-the-nation-somethings-coming and I'll try to post updates here too. After the announcement is made next week I'll set up something on our forum as more non-merlin people are likely to see it there and help us track down the boats in Scotland. Are you looking at a particular boat Martin? And is Craig crewing for you?

Pretty sure there are no Merlins at Helensburgh. I had one there in the 80's but no others since.

Had another look at the 60th anniversary photos on the HSC website. Looks like a merlin looking after the toppers.

There was a Nat 12 at out that day, very similar from some angles. Still it would be good if there were a few. Think the last event was either at Dalgety Bay or Holy Loch, where there is still a merlin.

Why not set up an event next year   I went to the holy loch event last time great fun

Will try to get as many boats up as I can

There needs to be a creche for doggies though

Yes it is a National 12 3245.
I hope to do a few regattas in Scotland and possibly a few of the Northern events when I eventually get a Merlin.

Should be picking mine up in 2 weeks time, then into the shed at fairlie for a week of varnish and repairs, then probabky going to do whatever winter racing is going on at largs...am well up for coordinating getting as many merlins together for some regatta venues around scotland - We could put together a doodle poll with a list of regattas and dates and see who wants to do what and when?

I have now bought myself an NSM4 that I will be picking up in the next 2 or 3 weeks and will be sailing on Forfar loch so look forward to meeting some of you next summer.

I was at Forfar with Merlin 252 until a move to Somerset.  Small friendly club.

Is anyone in Scotland able to help give a trial sail to a prospective new member? I had an email from an A. Beyts last month. Usually these get automatically forwarded to the Scottish Regional Rep...but there isn't one and I've only just realised the email would have disappeared into a black hole.

On that note, since there seems to be a growing number of Merlins in Scotland, would anyone like to volunteer to be the MROA Scotish point of contact? It is not a huge job, just the occasional enquiry to handle and your details in the year book. There is not even a need to attend meetings (thankfully, if you live in Scotland!). 

If you would like to do this, let me or our chairman Paul Hollis know and we can ave a discussion/vote you in at our next meeting in November.

Hi Garry I remember you well are you still using my national 12 sail?

I am still sailing my NSM4 at Wormit when I have a chance and would be keen to take part in any Merlin events. Hi Garry, how is life down south?

Hi Calum, that's good to know. My boat arrived yesterday and is in the shed for some paint and varnish, then into the water in a week or 2. It's the boat here: http://www.caledoniasailing.com/somethings-coming-nearly-here  and I'll put up a form post in the next couple of days to try to find out who else is around and wants to get involved. We could perhaps put a doodle poll up with some regatta dates and then pick 3 or 4 for a wee circuit next year? I'd like to get to some of the inland lochs as well as the usual events...

Hi all, please see this topic at http://www.caledoniasailing.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=4 if you want to register your interest in getting together for some racing, or know of any boats sitting unused that might want to join in. I'll duplicate info here for everyone too, although not sure if any non-Merlin sailors visit this forum so trying to spread the news as widely as possible! 

Cheers

Calum,
Somerset is great although the house refurb and my Mum's move down from Edinburgh has curtailed the sailing although have attended more CVRDA events than I would have done from Aberdeen (surprise, surprise!!)  Next year hope to joing the Cheddar Reservoir club - Bristol Corinthian Sailing Club which is only 4 miles away.

Angus
Good to see you have been involved at Forfar.  Yep I still have the N12 sail but not used it.