I used to race 25 years ago but sold my Dart 18 and been a land lubber. The DCA vids and ones like yours have given me the bug to get back on the water. I have to confess never owned a Mirror the closest was a couple of Enterprises. Have not even considered a mirror as a viable cruising dinghy but now seeing your trips I'm thinking it has moved up my list of possible buys. Specially as is a nice light boat to launch and recover. Many thanks happy sailing
The Enterprise is quite tippy but fast. The Mirror is small for sleeping and of course much slower than a Wayfarer. However, if single handed your body weight will keep a Mirror under complete control.You need a good reefing system and plenty of weight in the boat, which will happen anyway if you are camping. As always, I recommend building up very slowly. Good sailing.
The mast head light is fed by a cable from a little battery box. This also powers a bilge pump and has a cigar socket for charging things up. It is charged by a solar panel plugged into the cigar socket.
Well, I just bought a Mirror in beautiful condition, two sets of sails, two gaffs...so I have a few questions. The two plywood boxes in aft cockpit...are these seating areas as well, do you sit on them occasionally? With your redesigned centreboard instead of daggerboard, is your thwart further forward allowing more cockpit space for helmsman? What model bilge pump do you use? Is that really necessary when a sponge is handy? (my hull has an automatic bailer too). Would love to ask more question when I think of them...oh like, how long are your oars. I'm hoping to get cruising Georgian Bay, or maybe the Canso strait and the Bras d"Or lakes at some point (seems similar to the English Channel cruising you do). Cheers, Dave
Hi David. Yes I often sit on the boxes when running and motoring. I did not move the thwart forward because it needs to be in the correct position for rowing. My electric bilge pump is a Rule 500 and I think my manual one is a Whale Urchin with removable handle. These can remove 360 gallons per hour each, more than a sponge. I do not have self bailers in case they leak at night. My oars are about six feet long, a bit short for efficiency but can be stowed. Good sailing. D
@@msf60khz i just completed the conversion of my main to a gaff rig with one set of reef points. Wish i could send a pic. Look forward to getting out and trying it out! Thanks for the inspiration! Dave
very interesting - im just learning about sailing with a view to dinghy cruising. How big a waves will your boat handle? Does it have enough bouyancy to not sink in case of capsize and how often if ever have you capsized? cheers
You need many hours of practice in sheltered waters before venturing on these voyages. Build up very slowly. The Mirror has built-in buoyancy so it will always float, and I have a masthead airbag to prevent inversion. I have not accidentally capsized this boat. Regarding wave size, it is breaking waves you need to understand and avoid.
Hi Pete If you enter 30deg on your calculator and press Sine it will give the answer of 0.5. Another useful one is Sine 45 = 0.7 and Sine 60 = 0.9 approx. I just memorise these main ones. D
Hi John. I first set out to try a gaff rig for interest, so I could learn how to handle it. I ended up with a smaller sail with a very light gaff, which was really easy to handle. I then tried a topsail, partly to learn how to handle it, but it was very successful. I find that the gaff alone is suitable for much of my open sea sailing due to the stronger winds at sea. It has a low CP and if I need more power it is easy to put up the topsail. In other words, we add sail in light conditions when it is safe to mess around. D
Great sailing , keep it up .
Great video 😊
Absolutely brilliant....l just love watching all your videos. Very inspiring.
Thanks once again, Donald.
Magnificent. Thank you.
Thank you Kevin.
I used to race 25 years ago but sold my Dart 18 and been a land lubber.
The DCA vids and ones like yours have given me the bug to get back on the water.
I have to confess never owned a Mirror the closest was a couple of Enterprises.
Have not even considered a mirror as a viable cruising dinghy but now seeing your trips I'm thinking it has moved up my list of possible buys. Specially as is a nice light boat to launch and recover.
Many thanks happy sailing
The Enterprise is quite tippy but fast. The Mirror is small for sleeping and of course much slower than a Wayfarer. However, if single handed your body weight will keep a Mirror under complete control.You need a good reefing system and plenty of weight in the boat, which will happen anyway if you are camping. As always, I recommend building up very slowly. Good sailing.
Looks like a great day :) what do you do for your masthead light? Did you set it before leaving bembridge or did you lower the mast on the way?
The mast head light is fed by a cable from a little battery box. This also powers a bilge pump and has a cigar socket for charging things up. It is charged by a solar panel plugged into the cigar socket.
Well, I just bought a Mirror in beautiful condition, two sets of sails, two gaffs...so I have a few questions. The two plywood boxes in aft cockpit...are these seating areas as well, do you sit on them occasionally? With your redesigned centreboard instead of daggerboard, is your thwart further forward allowing more cockpit space for helmsman? What model bilge pump do you use? Is that really necessary when a sponge is handy? (my hull has an automatic bailer too). Would love to ask more question when I think of them...oh like, how long are your oars. I'm hoping to get cruising Georgian Bay, or maybe the Canso strait and the Bras d"Or lakes at some point (seems similar to the English Channel cruising you do). Cheers, Dave
Hi David. Yes I often sit on the boxes when running and motoring. I did not move the thwart forward because it needs to be in the correct position for rowing. My electric bilge pump is a Rule 500 and I think my manual one is a Whale Urchin with removable handle. These can remove 360 gallons per hour each, more than a sponge. I do not have self bailers in case they leak at night. My oars are about six feet long, a bit short for efficiency but can be stowed. Good sailing. D
@@msf60khz i just completed the conversion of my main to a gaff rig with one set of reef points. Wish i could send a pic. Look forward to getting out and trying it out! Thanks for the inspiration! Dave
Well done, David. Let me know how it goes.
very interesting - im just learning about sailing with a view to dinghy cruising. How big a waves will your boat handle? Does it have enough bouyancy to not sink in case of capsize and how often if ever have you capsized? cheers
You need many hours of practice in sheltered waters before venturing on these voyages. Build up very slowly. The Mirror has built-in buoyancy so it will always float, and I have a masthead airbag to prevent inversion. I have not accidentally capsized this boat. Regarding wave size, it is breaking waves you need to understand and avoid.
@@msf60khz interesting - thanks for the reply
That's where the Mary Rose sunk wasn't it?
Mary Rose was near Spit Sand Fort I believe. D
Can you explain the sine of 30 is 0.5? Where do you get that from? Sorry I don't want to sound stupid
Hi Pete
If you enter 30deg on your calculator and press Sine it will give the answer of 0.5. Another useful one is Sine 45 = 0.7 and Sine 60 = 0.9 approx. I just memorise these main ones. D
Thank you so much for replying so quickly. many thanks
Hi what is that diamond shape thing on the left mast wire?
It is a radar reflector, to make the boat more visible on ships' radar. It is a legal requirement internationally under the SOLAS regulations.
It is a radar reflector, designed to improve the visibility of the boat on ships' radar.
gaff with tops'l. Interesting.Why? What was wrong with the gunter?
Hi John. I first set out to try a gaff rig for interest, so I could learn how to handle it. I ended up with a smaller sail with a very light gaff, which was really easy to handle. I then tried a topsail, partly to learn how to handle it, but it was very successful. I find that the gaff alone is suitable for much of my open sea sailing due to the stronger winds at sea. It has a low CP and if I need more power it is easy to put up the topsail. In other words, we add sail in light conditions when it is safe to mess around. D