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A yellow Mirror dinghy on a beach with cloudless blue sky and transparent blue water

There are a few Mirrors in France, and a gentleman called Alain This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., who lives in Brittany near Rennes, who wants to start a French Mirror Class Association. Alain runs a website about Mirrors in France.

Eric Vibart tells me the Mirror dinghy is not that unknown in France. She was briefly imported in the middle of the seventies. Some "building classes" for groups have even been organized in some clubs, but the Mirror was in direct opposition with some other, well established, popular, French dinghies like the Vaurien (plywood),  Zef (GRP) and others. The fact is that amateur construction has never been developed in France on the same scale than in Great Britain. And that probably the Mirror did not matched the french tradition about small dinghies.

One French Mirror is number 18825 'Les Oiseax' owned by Jonathan Mutch (it's using sails from anothe boat in the photos) who sails from Hyères, opposite Porquerolle Island. The boat was purchased from Starcross Sailing Club near Exeter. She is much admired and often photographed. Jonathan is happy to advise anyone else who wants to 'import' a Mirror to France.

Another French Mirror is 35336 "Black Pearl Junior" which belongs to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.'s son Charles Vibart-Ostier for now six years. The boat, in pretty good state, was bought on Ebay and picked up not far from Norwich. She only had two successive owners since her building.

With his "Black Pearl Junior", Charles (then 12 years old) and his father participated the 2009 edition of the "Semaine du Golfe" in Golfe du Morbihan, Brittany. We were one of two french Mirror Dinghies in that nautical festival.

The boat usually sails on the Lac d'Enghien, north of Paris.

Another French ex-Mirror sailor is This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. from around Cherbourg.

If any other Mirror sailors in France want to be added to this page, just let Martin Egan know.

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All content belongs to, and copyright © of, the UK Mirror Class Association. Design and Maintenance - Peter Sedgewick, Martin Egan.
Thanks to Jan Grieg-Gran, Rob Grieg-Gran and Scotty Cochrane for their work on a previous website.