Alan Warren has just been nominated Seahorse Magazine’s Sailor of the Month for February.  Our first Merlin Nationals was in 1970 and was held at Pwllheli, there were 220 competitors  (yes 220). Alan Warren sailing with Barry Dunning won the event, that was the third  time he had won the Nationals and he did again in 1973. Which was utterly  amazing.  We wanted to be in the first 100, and finished 99^th,  it was  horrendously windy, we capsized 7 times in one race and finished  two minutes within the time limit. I have never been as cold as I got in that race, and I think I ended up with PTSD,  not because of the sailing, it was the stay at Butlins Holiday camp in Pwllheli!

These two photos were taken at King George Sailing Club  after Storm Ishia had passed through.

Its a very simple message “Don’t forget to make sure your boat and the boats around  you are secure in the dinghy park”

Thank you to Rodger White and to Bob Ladell for letting us share this message.

As soon as Christmas is behind us it’s all hands to the pumps and at the moment you can’t move in the yard!

Today was David Little’s Funeral, he lived to 101 and was a true gentleman, I was lucky enough to be given the opportunity to speak and tell the story of David’s live as a Merlin sailor.  Although he ran his own business he was always willing to come and support us at exhibitions and promote sailing, a sport he loved

This painting by John Canning was given to David who was  the helm of our launch at Salcombe Merlin Week as a gift for all of his efforts.

His thirst for life and resilience were just two reasons he lived such a long, happy, and successful life!

He will be sadly missed.

It has been a bit of a manic year one way and another, and it doesn’t appear to be slowing down, perhaps when the autumn set in properly we will have a chance to have the odd weekend off!

I did, and ended up towing an inflatable full of young  life savers through the streets of Potters Bar during the Carnival, squeezed between an enormous truck  in front and a Fire engine behind!

I think anyone who is involved with the OK class is preparing for the Worlds in Lyme Regis  22nd to 30th June this summer, certainly we have been producing lots of ally trolleys!

As soon as we start to load outside it starts to rain, and the congestion caused by the re-generation is creating major problems in the area, it’s all rather boring!

This is the first delivery of  our new Venture trolleys, complete with cradle chocks and docking arms.

My life revolves around  ‘ Certificate of Conformity’ personally  I couldn’t tell the difference between a Hyundai, Dacia and a Kia without looking at the badge,  and now all  fruit and vegetables have to be a certain size, but  do we really want everything to be the same?

The simple answer is no and I  really admire anyone who has the courage to try to be different, because  ultimately in the sailing world it’s going to be expensive and  probably  doomed to fail,  these  projects are  always  driven by the heart and not by the  mind.

I recently  visited  Simon Hipkin  on the East coast who builds the H2,  and  I was  delighted  to be shown a new wooden Merlin  under construction  designed by  Gavin Willis with Simons input.

The fleet is so incredibly  competitive  and the deigns are well established and proven, it would however be absolutely brilliant if it all works.