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.

Today 1st March 2023 is World Complement Day!

Brilliant: I set out this morning with every intention of being complementary to  suppliers and customers. The day didn’t start well with a major smash on the M1 and I sat there for nearly 3 hours, I got carved up by a black Mercedes with darken windows who thought the best thing to do was to drive along the hard shoulder, then cut across me to get back on the carriage, so no complement for him!!  When I got to work a representative from Affinity Water  told me they were going to close Herbert Road, which was going to make it virtually impossible  for customers and deliveries to get to us, so again no complements to them!! The Galvaniser  arrived and the driver was told the road had been closed, but he managed  to navigate his 7 ton lorry up all the tiny back streets and  then back down Herbert Road from the other end.

This is Ben from Medway Galvaniser and he was the only person I  complemented  today, because everyone else was RUBBISH!!!

It was actually really pleasant  just wandering around and taking everything in.

Do I miss not having a stand there, yes and no, but probably more No!