Sailed my bargain Mirror Dinghy for the first time. Its great fun!

Even Chance

Even Chance

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Hi folks,
I launched my Mirror for the first time at the weekend, and had my first wee sail in her. She's come a long way since I bought her for £40 a few months ago. I can see me having loads of fun with my sons in her. My eldest son, who is 5, is the one in her with me. He loves it, and says he wants to show his younger brother (1) how to sail in it when he is bigger.:)
Ive left her floating in the marina for the week whilst I finish off the trailer. We carried her down the marina bridge and just set her in the water. Nice and easy and no wet feet!
Thanks to everyone here who helped me to get to this position, and who put up with my continious questions.

Cheers :)
 

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Even Chance said:
Hi folks,
I launched my Mirror for the first time at the weekend, and had my first wee sail in her. She's come a long way since I bought her for £40 a few months ago. I can see me having loads of fun with my sons in her. My eldest son, who is 5, is the one in her with me. He loves it, and says he wants to show his younger brother (1) how to sail in it when he is bigger.:)
Ive left her floating in the marina for the week whilst I finish off the trailer. We carried her down the marina bridge and just set her in the water. Nice and easy and no wet feet!
Thanks to everyone here who helped me to get to this position, and who put up with my continious questions.

Cheers :)
Click to expand...

don't forget that you can move the mast forward and sail her with just the main

more room in the cockpit to stretch out

very relaxed

don't leve her afloat toolong uncovered

your lovely paint and varnish will soon start to look horrible

Dylan
 
they are cracking little boats. Well done to get her for that money, and I'm sure you will all have a lot of fun together.
 
She is floating with the mast-up cover fitted to protect all my lovely varnish and to keep the rain out. If I could figure out how to remove some attachment files from my folder on here I could post the photo of her on the marina with the cover fitted. Im at my max allowance.

I will be taking her out again tomorrow night and put her back into my garage at the house. The paint on the trailer should be dry by then, and the carpet bunks finished. Im all ready for the 50th birthday event at Scrabster (Pentland Firth Yacht Club). They are having a day of sailing and training on the 2nd June. Should be some fun.

The guy wanted £50 for her, so I jumped at the chance of another boat for very little money. As I loaded it onto my trailer and handed him a crisp £50 note, he said he couldnt let it go for £50, and my heart sank as I thought he wanted a lot more for her. Maybe the advert was wrong and he really wanted £500. "Bugger" I thought. He handed me a tenner back, and said "sorry about the state of her".

I stripped her back and gave her new exterior seam tape and epoxy. New paint and varnish completed the job.

We are going to have a lot of family fun with this one. I learned to sail in a Mirror in this very harbour, and so will my sons.....
 
Yep, the shore power is left connected to keep the fridge and the flatscreen TV going while Im away to deter thieves from breaking in............
 
Do not try stepping through the gap between the stays and the mast having dropped and stowed sails etc at the end of the day

You will get wet!

Don't ask how I know.
 
scottie said:
Do not try stepping through the gap between the stays and the mast having dropped and stowed sails etc at the end of the day

You will get wet!

Don't ask how I know.
Click to expand...

Thats actually quite funny. I stepped aboard, and tried to sit on the side seat with the rudder and board up. The thing nearly flipped over with my 15 stone of much roundness!! I leaned forward to pull the headsail down after the sail, and things got very wobbly very quickly! Im not used to such a tippy wee thing. Saying that though, she's very stable under sail. Certainly not a laser dinghy!!
Most of my sailing was done with me sitting on the floor!
 
The really funny bit was that to get out the water I had to swim round to the nearest boat with a stern ladder I could reach and being met by a large protective dog at the top.
Took a long time for the teeth marks on my knuckles to fade!
 
Great to see a dinghy back in use. I bought an old Wayfarer for the same reasons - great fun, in fact I am using it more than the big boat!
 
Hey this is a nice story, great to see an old Mirror come back to life! I started sailing the Mirror when I was 10 and have sailed one ever since with my children, they are now grown up but we still have an old Mirror waiting for when the Grandchildren come along!
Although we supply new spars for the Mirror if you ever need any spares, centreboards/rudders etc don't buy we have loads of old Mirror bits looking for a good home.
 
merlin3688 said:
Hey this is a nice story, great to see an old Mirror come back to life! I started sailing the Mirror when I was 10 and have sailed one ever since with my children, they are now grown up but we still have an old Mirror waiting for when the Grandchildren come along!
Although we supply new spars for the Mirror if you ever need any spares, centreboards/rudders etc don't buy we have loads of old Mirror bits looking for a good home.
Click to expand...

That sounds great, and I will bear it in mind if I ever need anything, thanks very much. This one is in great condition now, and I will make sure it stays that way too! I honestly cant see me ever parting with it. Im bad like that though. I still have the very same 1971 Mini that I learned to drive in!
 
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