[Editors note - I am not an expert on this subject, so please let me know if any of the following is incorrect.]
According to the Düsseldorf Boat Show organisers,
"...used boats and yachts built before 16 June 1998 and already put into service within the EU do not require a CE mark." So this would apply to any Mirror with a sail number below around 69915 according to our list of sail numbers against year of manufacture. For newer boats, read on:
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GRP & GRP composite boats built by Widebeam Ltd., such as 69992 'Swan Lake' have a plasic builders plaque with some CE conformity information on it. Details are as follows:
| Parameter | Value |
| Design Category | C |
| Maximum Crew | 4 |
| Maximum load | 350Kg |
| EU Notified Body | No. 0808 (Irish Sailing Association) |
Widebeam was formed when Bell Woodworking went out of business in 1999. It's likely Bell Woodworking would had taken the same approach on boats they built after 16th June 1998.
GRP foam sandwich boats sold by Trident-UK (at least while we were in the EU) came with a EC Declaration Of Conformity to Directive 94_25_CE (same details as show above for Widebeam Ltd). These boats were introduced onto the market around 2002.
As far as I can work out, wooden boats built after 16th June 1998 (by professional builders like Duffin Marine, Trident-UK) or built by amateur builders, but then sold within 5 years of "entering service" would also need CE conformity. Kit manufacturers Trident-UK provided a EC Declaration of Conformity Statement with their kits stating the panels are to the approved design of a Mirror (and I would imagine they still do for kits sold into the EU). There are sections for professional and amateur builders to declare they have built the kit into a boat in accordance with the building instructions, so it will comply with the Directive. According to the Düsseldorf Boat Show organisers amateur built boats which are sold more than 5 years after they entered service do not need a Declaration Of Conformity.
GRP foam sandwich boats manufactured by Winder Boats are classed as '...solely for racing... ' under the EU regulations, and have (or had) a RYA sticker on them saying that (see above). So I presume that means some/all of the regulations (e.g. around stability) don't apply. These boats were introduced onto the market around 2008.
Note: I think Winder Boats have choosen to go down this route, rather than test their Mirror for compliance with the Directive, presumably because most Winders are used for racing and they have probably taken the same decision with other, less stable, classes they manufacture (e.g. Merlin Rocket class dinghies). All Mirrors have the same hull shape (within small tolerences) and are similar weight. We know the Mk 3 Interior GRP foam sandwich boat built by Alkar Technology in Belgium was tested and complied with the Directive. It's hard to imagine why a Winder would not pass if it was actually tested.
This is how you join for 2023 and onwards. You are going to need a PayPal account since we are using PayPal as our payment gateway (the same as our old SailScore system). Sadly we have not been able to transfer the previous account and subscription data from SailScore, so everyone is going to have to start again.
It might be easier to print this article (see the 'gear wheel' icon to the top right of this article) so you have it to refer to while going through the steps:
If you have any problems with this process, or get stuck,
25 Mirror Dinghies entered the Southern Area Championships today. Beautiful sailing conditions and 4 races held. Jewels came 9th and I came 12th.
The event was won by current National Champions Ben & Keira McGrane in Elsa, Runners up were Chris & Adriana Balding in Yolo, with 3rd place going to Chris & Will Fuller in Ripples.
As I was the only Single Handed sailor I did pick up a prize for leading Single Handed sailor! ?. Jewels was leading female helm but there wasn't a prize for that! ?
You need to wear
a buoyancy aid, or a lifejacket. In general terms adults & children able to help right a dinghy should wear buoyancy aids. Younger children should wear a lifejacket.
If the water temperature is below below 15°C; that’s more or less the summertime average around the coast of the UK, cold water shock can be a killer, so you need a wetsuit or a drysuit
There are lots of ideas and options for reefing a Mirror mainsail, this is the one I use on my gaff rigged boat 15563 - Blyskawica.
When I reef, I don't pull the mainsail right to the top of the gaff, instead I have a deck clip/lacing eye on the front edge of the gaff just above where the head of the mainsail comes with the reef in (I've also marked this with a coloured band). I just use the normal length of line attached to the head of the sail to attach the head to this point. This means the gaff can be fully hoisted against the back of the mast, as normal, so it does not flop around. I've seen (in the past) some cruising sailors fit a 'halyard' to the gaff to allow them to lower the sail in the gaff to achieve a similar thing.
My mainsail with reefing point being tried on a Bermuda rigged boat. Reefing reinforcement patches and cringles all my own work (as you can probably tell).
I have a reefing cringle on the luff (originally this was a lacing eye hole), with bearing surface 3120mm from the head point, and one on the leech with bearing surface 3600mm from the head point. If you have a Bermuda rig, make sure the luff cringle is not too close to the bolt rope, so it does not foul the track in the mast when the mainsail is hoisted un-reefed.
I have two, small, cringles roughly equally spaced between these two points and use a length of elastic with a plastic ball at one end to keep the bottom of the sail tidy. Start the elastic in the leech reefing cringle, go down around the sail and back through the cringle, then along to the next one, down around the sail and back through the cringle and so on to the front cringle (see photos above)
There is quite a lot of information and suggestions for options for mainsail reefing on the Mirror discussion forum here https://mirrordiscussforum.org/Drupal_02/node/475 .
