@@stevenvater2681 It’s a great class. Just about every top notch sailor has spent time in Merlins. They’re a development class and the racing is very competitive. I cut my racing teeth in #1050, back in the mid sixties. They were edge glued plywood lapstrake, usually varnished in those days but gone plastic these days.
@@q.e.d.9112 I've just bought number 1593 in a bit of a sorry state, rotten underneath and have spent the last five months of so putting new sections of planks and keel in. She's still upside down awaiting spring for varnish and repairs to the cockpit but I can't wait to rig everything and try it out. Only a basic idea of how everything works on a Merlin but there're plenty of resources out there I think.
@@chrisburn7178 Awesome. I hope you have as much fun as we did back in the 60s. At 77, I’ve still got some of the core strength from all those hours hanging everything from the knees up, over the side. We used to practice roll tacking till we could do a tack in under 4 seconds. That’s flat out on one tack to flat out on the other. Put twenty or thirty of those in a race and you’ve had a workout. 5 or 6 races, every weekend plus a couple on Wednesday for two or three seasons and your abs are set for life. By 1968 I had moved on to bigger boats and gravitated to cruising. Some fabulous holidays sailing the Hebrides. I’ve been in NZ since 1978 and have had two thirty-footers. Finally, sold the last one when I realised I couldn’t manage her on my own, any more. Looking back, the smaller the boat, the greater the adventure. 😊🙂👍
That Merlin was Rocketing. Classy bit of sailing.
This is hilarious . They all met their Waterlooe !)
What boat class is that at 25:10?
Elltielle Merlin Rocket.
Don't worry what it is , its incredibly fast
@@stevenvater2681
It’s a great class. Just about every top notch sailor has spent time in Merlins. They’re a development class and the racing is very competitive. I cut my racing teeth in #1050, back in the mid sixties. They were edge glued plywood lapstrake, usually varnished in those days but gone plastic these days.
@@q.e.d.9112 I've just bought number 1593 in a bit of a sorry state, rotten underneath and have spent the last five months of so putting new sections of planks and keel in. She's still upside down awaiting spring for varnish and repairs to the cockpit but I can't wait to rig everything and try it out. Only a basic idea of how everything works on a Merlin but there're plenty of resources out there I think.
@@chrisburn7178
Awesome. I hope you have as much fun as we did back in the 60s. At 77, I’ve still got some of the core strength from all those hours hanging everything from the knees up, over the side.
We used to practice roll tacking till we could do a tack in under 4 seconds. That’s flat out on one tack to flat out on the other. Put twenty or thirty of those in a race and you’ve had a workout. 5 or 6 races, every weekend plus a couple on Wednesday for two or three seasons and your abs are set for life.
By 1968 I had moved on to bigger boats and gravitated to cruising. Some fabulous holidays sailing the Hebrides. I’ve been in NZ since 1978 and have had two thirty-footers. Finally, sold the last one when I realised I couldn’t manage her on my own, any more.
Looking back, the smaller the boat, the greater the adventure.
😊🙂👍