With plans for my Hazardous series Merlin Rockets now sold to Hong Kong, South Korea, and other even more exotic (and unlikely) places, I have recently sold some plans to Julio Arena, who hails from Texas, USA. He has just started a blog which will show the day by day progress of his project. He's a very capable woodworker with excellent facilities, but this is his first boat. The blog could well end up as the standard work on how to build a Merlin Rocket. Any potential builders among you should visit the link below.

Sorry Julio - misspelled your name - it should be Julio ARANA.

Keith, how do you get such a volume of international sales ?

Ben, it's all down to my website - global reach and all that. It's a functionally simple site but I have worked hard at making it 'search friendly'. What would you put into Google if you were looking for a Merlin Rocket design to build yourself? My website will be there on page 1. Try it.

Thank you for your kind comments, Keith. I had 70 page views from the UK just today, and all came from your forum post. I look forward to sharing the progress of my project in the blog. Cheers!

Julio, lets be clear; a wooden Merlin Rocket is not a sailing dinghy, it is ART!

.... and like most great art, I can't afford one, so its a reproduction in plastic for me!!

From Julio's blog, love this comment...

A feature of the Class has been the high standard of craftsmanship and finish that the various builders have maintained over the years. Tradition, pride, craftsmanship, speed and a really sexy design!

Alan,I am quickly figuring out the Art part... I hope I don't end up figuring out the other...