The People Who Keep Her Going
“The strength of the team is each individual member. The strength of each member is the team.”
A racing boat requires people.
A racing boat built in 1977 requires quite a few of them.
Some sail aboard Merlin. Some rarely do. There are people who understand her rig, people who understand her sails, people who manage the program, people who know her history and people who can hear something aboard the boat that does not sound quite right.
The standard aboard Merlin is serious.
The reason people keep returning is simpler.
They love sailing, they care about the boat, and there is always something left to learn.
The 2019 Transpac
Chip Merlin
Role: Current owner / skipper
Chip first read about Merlin after the 1977 Transpac as a nineteen-year-old college student. He eventually had the opportunity to acquire the boat decades later.
His role in the current program is not to be the person who knows everything. It is to put capable people around Merlin, listen to expertise, keep learning and accept responsibility for the boat now entrusted to him.
Brian Malone
Role: Merlin Yacht Racing manager
Much of the work that keeps Merlin racing happens before anyone sees a starting line.
Brian Malone is central to that work. His role reaches across preparation, people, logistics and the countless practical decisions required to turn the intention to race Merlin into a boat and team capable of doing it.
