Are there any Merlins planning to go to the Bloody Mary? XC weather have it as a reasonable F4

Will shake the mothballs out of Heaven Sent and get up there, forecast presently looks excellent though a tad worried about out of control assymmetrics ploughing through my gunwales.

Yep, I will be there. Looking forward to a good blast.

Does anyone know how much water there is?

This much

Chris and I will be out to play

Water rather than weather. At Datchet it is so low you can barely reach it!

Keep your mast pointing at the sky & the reservoir out of your boat and you shouldn't have to worry Jeremy!  I will be taking the fixed rudder in view of the vigorous forecast.  Getting the boats back out is always a bit of a performance anyway.  See you there!

me and biggsy will be there as well as my dad

we're going.  aiming to keep rudder & transom attached to the boat for this outing!

Ouch!!

John and I are going, hoping to rig the kite right this year....oops

You didn't perform your transomectomy at Queen Mary did you Nick?  I've taken out the transom of Heaven Sent twice and have no particular wish to repeat it for the cameras, have packed the long fixed rudder in view of the forecast (F5 gusting F6 presently on xcweather) and I can't remember any issues with shallow bits.  Looking forward to a good blast though a little nervous about the crowds at the marks, I've only ever done the BM in pretty light conditions before.

The marks are not too bad as the fleet always remains pretty spread out. Last year I got caught out a couple of times by Starboard boats that I had not noticed. There are so many boats out there that sometimes you have to be a bit forgiving with port boats that don't notice you as you would hope others would be with you!!

I did it in my OK last year which was fun in the wind but missed my Merlin as they came wizzing by towards the end!

I will be there with mr Phil Dalby. Forecast looks golden!

I will be there too, but watching Steve Dunn sailing my new HADRON singlehander - based on the WICKED MR design concept, Steve is sailing off mark 32 (with the Phantoms). The Merlins are sailing off mark 35, I would respectfully ask that none of you pass him. Please.

Looks as though we already have over a dozen Merlin entries, 10 on line & 3 more on the forum by my count, see you all there.  If I can get off the start line at Salcombe unscathed in a breeze the BM should be a doddle!

I'll be there commentating as usual so give me something to talk about chaps!

Nice one, Nick:

I was at the BM starting a minute after you guys in an Icon.  It was a real pleasure to watch how well you all sailed - and a tremendous effort to get in there amongst the Moths and 14s at the end. Great chatting to some of you afterwards too.

A great sail, really well organised as usual.  Unfortunately the repair on my tiller extension gave up after a bit over an hour's sailing and my gung-ho attitude of keep going whatever breaks only lasted till the spinny hoist, which did not go well and was rather damp.  As we were quite close to the club at that point the early shower seemed a good option.  Up till then they were the best conditions I can remember for the BM, as good as it gets at this time of year.

It was a good sail and good conditions, if a little fluky at times. A mid race swim and centreboard inspection (which was not a posative one) put any chance of a good result out the window but we had a smashing sail!!