CVRDA

David H did a very detailed breakdown of the history of the Mirror a few years ago.

Pretty well anything will work for a mainsail. For a jib you'll need something which sheets well(ish) and I think a Heron jib would be extremely low in the clew on a GP14 unless you're happy to put a set of fairleads well forward to sheet it from.

I totally agree with jpa_wfsc. The original gunwhales would have been wood and I can't think of any reason to use anything else as a replacement.

Nice

I’d like new sails to be more terylene like than modern Dacron. You'll struggle to find anything that bad these days. On my Heron I use a 3.9oz cloth by Bainbridge. It's a lot easier handling than the super-stiff cloths by Contender or Dimension Polyant which dominate woven racing dinghy cloths. Ch...

Pacer?

I think anyone who criticises 2 digit handicaps is completely missing the point of classic dinghy racing.

Out of curiosity how many Bosham boats attend CVRDA events?

Woods Designs wrote:surely better to hope for wind rather than burgers??

In my experience one tends to lead to the other

I've never tried it but I'd definitely be tempted to put a line/lines in. I'd use some form of waxed line. I'm sure if you did that then moved it slightly from time to time during the curing process then it wouldn't stick.

I think you're best bet would be to approach the current builder (Hartleys).

There are Herons with stern decks but that's definitely a GP14.

Sadly Rupert, as your experiments have shown, had the Minisail had a better rig it may have give the Laser a run for its money.

Boring fact: the first dinghy I ever sailed (in 1969 at sailing school) was a Minisail.

Sorry for the thread drift

Alan P. wrote:

Rupert wrote:The answer to the original problem is surely to simply keep on sailing south?

Yep, I'd say this is the best option!

But what do you do once you've crossed the Equator? Keep heading for Antarctica or head back North?

Wood dust allergy can apparently be quite species-specific. Hope it clears up quickly.