Merlin Comes Home

The legendary ocean racer Merlin is coming home to Santa Cruz. Her designer, builder and original owner, Bill Lee, has bought her back. Her canting keel (a modern modification) is history. "She will be in storage in Santa Cruz for a while while we change the keel out," Lee told us. "I will likely enter her in 2017’s Transpac."

Yesterday afternoon’s much-anticipated arrival was delayed. "There’s been a zebra mussel delay at Donner Summit," wrote Jeremy Leonard yesterday evening. Such is the fate of trailer-sailers — the 68-ft Merlin arrived in California from the fresh water Great Lakes!

Read this story by Shimon van Collie, written for Latitude 38 in 1995, to learn why Merlin is so special.