HEBRON (1966)

In the mid 60's I was a cadet member of the Up River yacht Club at Hullbridge, Essex. Initially I sailed in a 22ft bilge keel cruiser ALICIA that I had built with my father and brother. Most of the younger members sailed dinghies, of course, and gradually I became interested in dinghy racing. My first experience crewing a Merlin Rocket was in a Proctor MkXIV - when she started planing I knew I wanted more! Because I already had boatbuilding experience, I thought I might build my own Merlin Rocket, so I contacted Ian Proctor and asked him if I could purchase a set of plans of one of his latest designs. He refused, on the grounds that he had commercial agreements with the then builders of his designs. So I set about designing a Merlin Rocket myself. I studied some of the newer boats in the URYC dinghy park and read up on yacht design at the local library. then I sketched out a set of lines, which after several re-drafts became HEBRON.

At the time I was designing Hebron, I was working as a computer programmer at H.M. Customs and Excise, Southend. I lodged at a hotel run by two customs officers. They generously allowed me to build Hebron in the back garden of the hotel.

I got a 'second' C section mast from Proctor's for £9, but spared no expense on my Dacron sails from Bruce Banks, who supplied me with one of the first 'gaff' mainsails in the class.

The boat aroused much interest at my local club and at open meetings. In 1968 a club member asked me to design a Merlin for him to build himself. The result was HOTSPUR.

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Last updated 27 October 2012