Practically unknown on the West Coast of the USA, the Mirror is probably one of the most built, all-wood, sailing dinghies in the world. Originally offered for sale in the UK by the somewhat leftward leaning newspaper, the 'Daily Mirror', not so much as a promotional product, but as a political statement to burst the bubble of the rather elitist boating community at the time. It turned out to be astonishingly successful and over 70,000 have been made since 1963. This site is devoted to number 70,407 (thus sail number 70407), which will be well received over in the 'People's Republic of Berkeley' where it'll be hanging out from time to time. 

 

Check out our new section for Mirror 36332, a boat from 1974 that we picked up with the intention of sailing then fixing up over the winter that grew into a hull job. There's pictures, the usual pithy documentary, and some interesting original documentation. 
   

Since ours is under construction, there's no pictures to show of the finished product, so here are a couple of googled images to give you an idea.

 

 

It's an incredibly tough and durable little boat, with one having actually been sailed from Wales to the Black Sea, including crossing the English Channel*. Read "The unlikely voyage of Jack de Crow" for more details. A splendid read. I suppose it's possible that we may not sink too often given all this (*and Sandy Mackinnon actually wrote to confirm the feat).

For some historical context from the UK.