Jon Turner has designed and built some of the fastest Merlin Rockets, not to mention International 14s and many other dinghies besides. Here his crew Richard Parslow (himself a Fireball World Champion amongst many titles) walks us through some of the latest innovations on this beautiful Merlin Rocket. Even if you don't sail one of these boats, there are some great ideas here....
In the next video, Richard takes us through some of the rig developments on this Merlin....
The gybing board is different from most in the Merlin fleet. The board has been configured to be able to be raised vertically, keeping the centre of effort pretty much the same whether it's up or down....
More to come in Part 2 of this series....
In just 12 months Stuart Bithell's career has gone from a little known Olympic journeyman to one of the world's top 470 crews, Merlin Rocket National Champion helmsman, and Champion of Champions on the British dinghy scene after winning the Endeavour Trophy...
Where Peter Barton had capsized his way around the Bloody Mary three weeks earlier, the more moderate conditions suited his T-foiled Cherub to a T, with Barton and crew David Ellis winning both races of the Asymmetric fleet. After two events, victory at the Bloody Mary plus their 3rd at the Steve Nicholson keeps Andy Smith & Tim Needham's 505 in pole position, but just a point ahead of Barton's Cherub...
