Mirror 14
From the sail number quoted this would be a Bell Woodworking boat - either home built from a kit or maybe (more rarely) built by Bell.
An easy way of telling is the foredeck: is it curved/domed or is it two flat sections ( a bit like an A frame tent).
Things to check.... has it got a spinnaker chute, it's not easy fitting one as the moulds went awol yonks ago..... then check under the mast, a know place for the compression forces from the rig to spring the stitch and glue - and then finally, the aft sections between the back of the plate case and the transom. It's a lot of play for the ply.... they can be problematic in that area.
But all that said, this is a sweet boat to sail, for a pair of 'medium weigth' crew it can be very quick in light and breezy conditions. This really was a boat that should have survived - sadly the 'Mirror' association, fostered early on with the awful red sails, never left the boat even when renamed.
I don't think that there is a formal class association any longer, that died the death about 6 or 7 years ago. But for a small investment of time, a bit of money, you could have a rapid handicap winner that's lots of fun.
D
An easy way of telling is the foredeck: is it curved/domed or is it two flat sections ( a bit like an A frame tent).
Things to check.... has it got a spinnaker chute, it's not easy fitting one as the moulds went awol yonks ago..... then check under the mast, a know place for the compression forces from the rig to spring the stitch and glue - and then finally, the aft sections between the back of the plate case and the transom. It's a lot of play for the ply.... they can be problematic in that area.
But all that said, this is a sweet boat to sail, for a pair of 'medium weigth' crew it can be very quick in light and breezy conditions. This really was a boat that should have survived - sadly the 'Mirror' association, fostered early on with the awful red sails, never left the boat even when renamed.
I don't think that there is a formal class association any longer, that died the death about 6 or 7 years ago. But for a small investment of time, a bit of money, you could have a rapid handicap winner that's lots of fun.
D
David H
Neil,
Only three 'new' Marauders have ever hit the wet stuff. A 4th one was made - but so poorly it could never be taken past the hull construction phase. Of the 3, the first was owner (and I think is still owned) by Nic and caroline Smith. If they decided to race the boat in CVRDA events then they'd be hard to beat as Caroline, the helm, is a very sharp sailor indeed. The other two were made by Ian Ridge, the Contender builder. The first of these was wrecked in a freak storm up on the Firth of Forth, the 2nd was last heard of at bangor in Northern Ireland.
Apart from those, the only real alternative to the Bell Boats were the handful of boats done by Dennis Trott (the Fireball builder), sail numbers 626 - 632 if memory serves me well.
No matter what the number is - a brill boat for handicap events, even on small ponds like Shearwater!
David
Only three 'new' Marauders have ever hit the wet stuff. A 4th one was made - but so poorly it could never be taken past the hull construction phase. Of the 3, the first was owner (and I think is still owned) by Nic and caroline Smith. If they decided to race the boat in CVRDA events then they'd be hard to beat as Caroline, the helm, is a very sharp sailor indeed. The other two were made by Ian Ridge, the Contender builder. The first of these was wrecked in a freak storm up on the Firth of Forth, the 2nd was last heard of at bangor in Northern Ireland.
Apart from those, the only real alternative to the Bell Boats were the handful of boats done by Dennis Trott (the Fireball builder), sail numbers 626 - 632 if memory serves me well.
No matter what the number is - a brill boat for handicap events, even on small ponds like Shearwater!
David
David H
Neil,
Not so wrong really - the Miracle was the boat Mirror Group Newspapers really wanted (but didn't know at the time).
It was only after they realised that it was a huge jump from the Mirror to the Mirror 14 that they decided to ditch the fomer and go back to the drawing board. In hindsight, if they'd kept all three boats on then there would have been a clear migration path upwards - but sadly all that is history now.
Is the Miracle CVRDA legit?
D
Not so wrong really - the Miracle was the boat Mirror Group Newspapers really wanted (but didn't know at the time).
It was only after they realised that it was a huge jump from the Mirror to the Mirror 14 that they decided to ditch the fomer and go back to the drawing board. In hindsight, if they'd kept all three boats on then there would have been a clear migration path upwards - but sadly all that is history now.
Is the Miracle CVRDA legit?
D
David H
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alan williams
- Posts: 1650
- Joined: Thu Sep 16, 2004 10:44 pm
- Location: Devon
Hi David
Always felt Mirror 14 was going to be a failure. The marketing was all wrong as they pitched it at the Fireball and Hornet which had strong class bases. Hailed it as a Hornet beater which it never was or could be even after Trott started to build them. I was never enammered with the one I was lent. Design was very compromised both in its constuction stich and glue with curved and large flat poorly supported panels, resulting in hull flex, a weak stamping area in the helm's cockpit, the use of relatively poor grade ply and entrusting the whole project to Bell Woodworking. Who were a difficult company to deal with if you had to return any damaged panels as more often than not they would try to lay the blame on you thus avoiding replacement.As soon as things started to look bad for the class most of the committe jumped ship to Hornets, Fireballs and 505's having seen the writing on the wall.
Bells final death nell was heralded by that really hideously looking Bell Flyer which again was grossly Over Hyped. Y&Y could not find one good thing to say about it in their review.
Well thats my two penny worth on the death of a so called performance class.
Al
Always felt Mirror 14 was going to be a failure. The marketing was all wrong as they pitched it at the Fireball and Hornet which had strong class bases. Hailed it as a Hornet beater which it never was or could be even after Trott started to build them. I was never enammered with the one I was lent. Design was very compromised both in its constuction stich and glue with curved and large flat poorly supported panels, resulting in hull flex, a weak stamping area in the helm's cockpit, the use of relatively poor grade ply and entrusting the whole project to Bell Woodworking. Who were a difficult company to deal with if you had to return any damaged panels as more often than not they would try to lay the blame on you thus avoiding replacement.As soon as things started to look bad for the class most of the committe jumped ship to Hornets, Fireballs and 505's having seen the writing on the wall.
Bells final death nell was heralded by that really hideously looking Bell Flyer which again was grossly Over Hyped. Y&Y could not find one good thing to say about it in their review.
Well thats my two penny worth on the death of a so called performance class.
Al
In terms of cvrda age qualification, neither the Mirror 14 or the Miracle qualify. The Mirror 14 qualifies on "lost Class" and interest grounds. The Miracle has neither been lost or been found interesting, so doesn't qualify! I've put new decks on a Miracle, but never sailed one. Have to, one day!
Rupert
Alan,
Spot on with every word! Sad though as a well sorted marauder was a sweet boat to helm, though nothing like a Hornet or F'ball. In fact, it was closer to a 5o5 - you snugged in the large genoa and then went upwind playing the main. Handling was predicatable and vice free.
It could have been, should have been even, a star in its own right but as you say the marketing was a complete pile of poo. Even so, at one point the Mirror 14 was 'europe's fastest growing class' - but they couldn't sustain it.
An interesting facet of the debate should be that the Marauder wasn't the only sub-Hornet sized 'pocket rocket' to fail. The Typhoon, which shared much of the dimension criteria of the marauder, failed too.
Thinking back to the Typhoon, here was a boat that on a 13' ish waterline was expected to compete on level terms with the better established players of the day - F'ball, 470 and Hornet. Instead of trying to develop a seperate 'niche' they all got lumped in together - which left the smaller boat on a hiding to nothing.
see - size does count!
Rupert - the Miracle is an interesting boat, even the later ones I sailed were still at ground zero development wise. A 'nice' boat to sail but oh so bland! No wonder that it never really fired up the imagination of dinghy sailors - but then was it supposed to?
D
Spot on with every word! Sad though as a well sorted marauder was a sweet boat to helm, though nothing like a Hornet or F'ball. In fact, it was closer to a 5o5 - you snugged in the large genoa and then went upwind playing the main. Handling was predicatable and vice free.
It could have been, should have been even, a star in its own right but as you say the marketing was a complete pile of poo. Even so, at one point the Mirror 14 was 'europe's fastest growing class' - but they couldn't sustain it.
An interesting facet of the debate should be that the Marauder wasn't the only sub-Hornet sized 'pocket rocket' to fail. The Typhoon, which shared much of the dimension criteria of the marauder, failed too.
Thinking back to the Typhoon, here was a boat that on a 13' ish waterline was expected to compete on level terms with the better established players of the day - F'ball, 470 and Hornet. Instead of trying to develop a seperate 'niche' they all got lumped in together - which left the smaller boat on a hiding to nothing.
see - size does count!
Rupert - the Miracle is an interesting boat, even the later ones I sailed were still at ground zero development wise. A 'nice' boat to sail but oh so bland! No wonder that it never really fired up the imagination of dinghy sailors - but then was it supposed to?
D
David H