On Friday October 19th 2007, another Mirror found its way into the water in the San Francisco Bay area and was launched at the Berkeley Yacht club with great fanfare.

 

Getting the Mirrror afloat involved finishing up a partially completed hull, taking out a nasty warp, and all the finishing work that comes along with prepping a Mirror. All this was done by Dan Augustine and his class at Harding Elementary School in El Cerrito (who, we understand, also built a Chesapeake boat as another class project in previous years). All I can say is where were the teachers like Dan when we were that age. Kudos on making it interesting Dan! 

 

The restoration of 50353 was sponsored by the Pegasus project, initially as a tender for the boat, but we suspect it will soon be sporting standing rigging. Please check out the links below - it's a great cause.

 

Check out the kids working on the boat in various construction photos in the link below:

 

 

And lots more about Pegasus in general should you be so inclined. 

http://www.pegasusvoyages.org/index.html
  

 

Above is 50353 resting on the dock beside the BYC. As you can see, there's a couple of unusual features, the white painted interior and the bumper system to protect the gunwales, as well as the lower fitted quarter knees you can see a few pictures down. Innovative folk over there at Harding Elementary given the present intention that the boat will serve as a tender. 

 

Dan Augustine holds the stern as the boat is launched in front of BYC by students from Harding Elementary.

Tom Bates, Mayor of Berkeley (in Blue blazer), and Assemblywoman Loni Hancock preside over the launch ceremonies, as 50353 slips into the water.

And, last, but not least, Pegasus captain, Richard Gillette, surveys the Mirror pre-launch.