Restoration of the Year

[davidh]

Oh no Chris....another charge on the 'Crimes and Misdemeanours sheet'
"This man willing inticed the aforesaid Chris Barlow onto facebook..."

"take him to the Tower and off with his head"!

But before I suffer that fate, if you tick the 'Like' box then you'll get the updates automatically! The latest is the superb shot taken by Lois that shows Roger sailing keto before his Victor Kiam moment (" I liked it so much I bought it").

For anyone out there who is on FB but not a merlin rocket sailor, you're still more than welcome to come onto the page and see some great pictures (with lots more to come, some of them previously unseen) being posted on there along with lots of 'new' history!

The page is; http://www.facebook.com/#!/MerlinRocketBook

because the whole object of the exercise is to produce a new book for the Class to go with their approaching 70th Anniversary. The core structure of the book is now well advanced, the next activity is to 'back fill' with a layer of greater detail - and the only waay to get this is to schlep around the country doing one on one interviews with key 'movers and shakers' of the time. Last week it was boat builder Graham Edwards..... coming up will be Richard Parslow and Jon Turner.... then I have to head East, North before going West again!

So please feel free to join in with comments or just 'interest' (seeing that there are a goodly few CVRDA people who are also Rocketeers) - it is some story that is there to be told!

D

[chris]

Last five days to vote!
http://www.classicboat.co.uk/awards2013

[davidh]

Hi Chris..........

I take it that the deafening silence from Classic Boat is bad news for Gently?
I cannot say that I am surprised...... from the outset I though the boat had the odds stacked against it - but would have been very happy to be proven wrong. I'm not sure what happened to all the copy and photos that I sent them, nor of the declared intention to 'feature' Gently, I'll keep my fingers crossed that she (and all your hard work) gets the recognition she is due sometime in the future!

D

[alan williams]

Hi Just checked Classic Boat site.

All the winners are big posh yachts/boats. Chris the prize giving looks as if it was all cocktail dresses and cucumber sandwiches not a real ale in sight.
Cheers Al

[Pat]

At least they had a real sailor for the celebrity. Actually wouldn't it be fun to put "Three men in a Classic Dinghy"? I could see Griff helming a vintage Merlin or a Jollyboat but what would you put Rory and Dara in?

[Ed]

They did it whilst they were doing the travelling around Ireland.

they all raced some Irish classic class. Looked like fun, although I seem to remember that there was next to no wind.

eib

[Bill-Conner]

It was a SOD (Shannon One Design.)

[chris]

Can't say I expected anything else really! It's all a bit of a con since very few people will have actually seen any of the boats nominated so all you have to go on is a picture in a mag. Yes, not much of a photo shoot to see the judges trying to get into Gently's tiny cockpit.

Several years ago I did try and contact Griff Rhys Jones to ask if he would a patron of the CVRDA ...got no reply!

Anyway Thanks for voting and David, thanks for your efforts and writing too.