Belmont, early 1990s
(and beyond)
Pete Donnison, Nick and me (1992?)
Merlin-Rocket 'Luxifax II' was mine. Sail number 3187 possibly. Can't quite remember but the boat was built by Guy Winder. The design was 'Disguys'. I drove to London to buy it and towed it back. I then took it back to Guy Winder in Bradford to have some improvements done but I don't remember what they were either, but the boat went faster. It will come back to me.
The short shorts I'm wearing are the ones I ran the Manchester Marathon in, about 1984, and I still have them but to look at (but not to wear obviously). To understand, see what professional footballers were wearing about that time.
We are getting ready for the Wednesday evening race – the only time Pete has crewed for me, or ever will (Pete, who I've known since I was about eleven, is a two-time transatlanticker and is usually always the skipper).
Years later:
Merlin-Rocket 3187 (I didn't own it then)
Someone I don't know sent me this photo (or told me about it) years after I'd sold the boat. It was for sale by its present owner apparently. It's exactly how I remember it but I doubt it exists now. Wooden Merlins were a lot of work to look after. When I owned it I stripped it down to bare wood over a winter and revarnished it with two-pack polyeurethane wearing a mask etc. Nowadays it would not be competitive anyway.
