Sorry, it was a Newport 30, not a Merit. Here's a report from the owner, the
father of helmsman who was lost:

Yes, it was my Newport 30 that was lost off San Francisco.
It was just purchased in Marina Del Ray in January. Hull #CPY 420.
It was the boat which I had seen posted on this site as being for sale on
Ebay!
I had purchased the boat in Marina del Ray, sailed it for a week in January
and left it in Santa Barbara.
Myself, my son Erik and a friend, Brad went back down Feb 13 to Santa
Barbara and were sailing up to San Francisco when the accident happened. My
son has not been found. Most of the newspaper articles are totally
inaccurate and should be read with a large grain of salt. There were no
helicopters involved, the winds are exagerated, and many more inaccuracies.
The subject is difficult to talk about at this time, but if you would like
to debate something worthwhile it might be whether to wear the harness or
floatation devices, in what scenario or when?
My son was at the helm and was wearing the harness and tether was our
practice all the way up the coast. Brad was wearing a Mustang floater coat
and I was not wearing either. I was the one who should not be here today.
The tether is likely to have been the cause of my son's death, as it seems
he was not able to release himself from the boat when it went down. Only
speculation is posible why not, but no definitive answers. The boat to my
best guess went down in aprox. 45 secs. the waves were 15 seconds apart and
we got hit broadside by 3 when Brad and I were washed overboard. My son was
still aboard the boat at this time, and I saw one more wave coming at the
boat then. The boat was never seen again. I beleive the safety harness
dragged Erik down with the boat.
The Latitude38 article is the most inacurate piece of slop I have seen on
the accident and they really should try getting some facts before printing
articles which people might be tempted to believe.





"SAIL LOCO" wrote in message
...
So I'm curious. The recent sinking in San Francisco was a Merit 30. It
seems
rather unacceptable that a 30 foot boat could be rolled and sunk in a few
minutes. Of course, they did apparently get inside the surf line, but still
it
didn't speak well of the boat.

Is the Merit 25 more seaworthy than the Santana?

I would like to see the story on that sinking since as far as I know Merit
never made a 30. Plus you say a it's unacceptable for a boat inside a surf
line to get rolled? Get real!
Merit made around 1200 25s which by the way were the only 3+ time winner
of the MORC Internationals. They made 650+ 22s. They also made a winged keel
version of the 22 which they called a 23. They made 2 or 3 28s which were
designed by NM and were screamers almost winning the Internationals out of the
box with a private owner.
I would say the 25 is pretty seaworthy. They have been singlehanded to
Hawaii more than once. The Merit 25 is a great boat.
S/V Express 30 "Ringmaster"
"No shirt, no skirt, full service"