Merlin’s Homecoming

At 9:30 on Wednesday morning, with police escort lights flashing, Driver Mike with Merlin in tow made the last turn, gently bottomed out on the boatyard hill, and Merlin was back home in Santa Cruz.
 
Mike had been delayed at the Donner Pass Agricultural Inspection Station when an inspector, doing his job, found a zebra mussel infestation in the keel box and canting mechanism and quarantined the boat. It took Mike four hours to find someone who would hot pressure wash the boat, but he seemed in good humor and no worse for wear, given the size and length of his eye-catching cargo.

Three of Merlin’s original 1977 record-breaking Transpac crew were on hand for her arrival: designer/builder Bill Lee, ‘Bosun’ Dave Wahle, and Phil ‘Cosmic Flush’ Vandenberg.

As Merlin was backed into the boatyard for unloading by Travelift, there was a brief moment of serendipity when Merlin passed close astern of Bill Lee’s first ocean racing boat, the shoal-draft, centerboard, John Alden-designed, 38-ft Fridolf, on which Bill crewed in Southern California in the mid-’60s and, later, on Monterey Bay.

There’s a lot to be done to make Merlin ocean-worthy again.  First up is to locate a used TP52 keel to replace the canting monstrosity. Bill has feelers out from Canada to Mexico. The ‘leaky’ canard trunk has to be cut out and glassed over. Even though Bill agreed the forward-sloping, carbon-fiber cabin top is not in keeping with the original design, I doubt it is going anywhere soon. There are bigger fish to fry. Ditto Merlin’s graphics, a leftover from when she was sold to a Texas restaurateur.

Everyone was smiling to see Merlin back home. I’m sure there will be more stories to come.