David Henshall's article

Am I alone in feeling a little uneasy when people start firing off comments using the 5 letter C word, without their being in possession of all the salient facts. It is neither big nor clever. So, what are the 'facts' in this case? Simply that the RYA examined the boat in fine detail and pronounced it legal - and accordingly issued a Certificate. So, if the boat is fully legal, then Cheating, by clear definition, has not taken place. There is though a big BUT: will finish that comment below.
As for 'cheating your way to a second division title' - the boat in question won the Merlin Rocket River Championships against all comers - which included some of the best river sailors to be found gripping a tiller. None of the main Merlin Rocket events are a pushover and to suggest that the River Championship, raced against your peers, is somehow 'second division' is a laughable notion.

However...I did finish an earlier sentence with a BUT.
The boat in question is a superb piece of top class workmanship that would grace any Concours event. It is quite simply a beautiful boat.

Now for the BUT; It also drives a loophole through the rules the size of a super tanker. As far as I know, exploiting loopholes and opportunities within the rules is not cheating - unless you want to say that Nigel Waller and Jo Richards were cheats with Punkarella; ditto Malcolm Goodwin with the Hornet Revolution, Steve Daniels with his double World Championship winning (but rule stretching) Contender 'Walkabout'. Go back to the article itself and the bows of Nitro, the David Thomas designed Merlin. Did it exploit a loophole that David Thomas had found in the rules? You bet it did! Was it cheating? No - and I do not think that anyone who knew David would ever want to accuse him of being a cheat.
The difficulty we face now is that, maybe unwittingly, the door is open to more overt exploitation of the Rules - not only in the MR class but in others. The Law of Unintended Consequences now comes into play and you can be sure that where one boat went, others will surely follow. Is that being innovative and maybe even radical in your thinking, or are you just a cheat? Personally, I fear for the future once the rules are seen to be nothing more than a plaything, that are there to be manipulated for individual gain. I would rather see better rule observance but it is surely the nature of development that clever people will find loopholes, leaving the Authorities to play catch up.
D

The boat in question is without doubt a Merlin Rocket, and on a river raced against all Merlins, not just old ones, is in its element. For that, I think the boat is great. As a classic boat? Even if it qualifies (which is up to the Merlins or organizers of other classic events - all the RYA have said is that the boat measures and can still use the old number, as far as I'm aware) it would see like a pretty damn hollow victory to beat boats which are 60 years old with a brand new one, especially if you are a top helm. Where is the challenge?

Davidyacht - if you go to my article that fired up this thread, you'll find pictures of the jellyfish, Dark Star, Shebazzle and One Love - and the Miles James one off somewhere up in North Wales!

A class that has reached 70 years old, has two Championships a year, a season long competition raced all around the country AND a week in Salcombe for 120 boats (oh - and a strong classic wing)can hardly be classed as a failure. I was with Alan Warren the other day - now there is a man who knows his way around a race course (what with a Silver Medal to his name for starters) - he's just ordered another Merlin, his 34th! No wonder these people are so good, they keep at it for years! as I said to Chris 249, maybe there is something is that degree of stability!
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Originally posted by tgruitt SCRAP THE CLINKER!!!

Tom, I thought we were friends.
Not any more.

Clinker = beauty.

Originally posted by Chris 249 ...during my brief serious time in Lasers, for example; the top sailor (the 2000 bronze medallist)

And it was multiple Laser Masters Champion Mark Bethwaite who came up with what is arguably the most influential single boat of the last 50 odd years, the medium Dribbly NS14.